Relationship between clinical and pathologic findings in patients with chronic liver diseases.
OBJECTIVE
To explore the relationship between clinical findings of patients with chronic liver diseases and the pathologic grading and staging of liver tissues.


METHODS
The inflammatory activity and fibrosis of consecutive liver biopsies from 200 patients were determined according to the diagnosis criteria of chronic hepatitis in China established in 1995. A comparative analysis was carried out for 200 patients with chronic liver diseases by comparing their clinical manifestations, serum biochemical markers with the grading and staging of liver tissues.


RESULTS
It was revealed that age, index of clinical symptoms and physical signs were obviously relevant to the pathologic grading and staging of liver tissues (P<0.05). Blood platelet, red blood cells, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), N-terminal procollagen III (PIII NP) were apparently correlated with the degree of inflammation. PGA (prothrombin time, GGT, apoprotein A1) index, PGAA (PGA+delta2-macroglobulin) index, albumin and albumin/globulin were relevant to both inflammation and fibrosis. Hyaluronic acid (HA) was an accurate variable for the severity of hepatic inflammation and fibrosis. The combination of serum markers for fibrosis could increase the diagnostic accuracy. It was notable that viral replication markers were not relevant to the degree of inflammation and fibrosis.


CONCLUSIONS
There is a good correlation between clinical findings and the pathologic grading and staging of liver tissues, which may give aid to the noninvasive diagnosis of liver fibrosis.
Lu
Lun-Gen
LG
Shanghai Institute of Digestive Disease, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Second Medical University, Shanghai 200001, China. lulungen@online.sh.cn
Zeng
Min-De
MD
Mao
Yi-Min
YM
Li
Ji-Qiang
JQ
Qiu
De-Kai
DK
Fang
Jing-Yuan
JY
Cao
Ai-Ping
AP
Wan
Mo-Bin
MB
Li
Cheng-Zhong
CZ
Ye
Jun
J
Cai
Xiong
X
Chen
Cheng-Wei
CW
Wang
Ji-Yao
JY
Wu
Shan-Ming
SM
Zhu
Jin-Shui
JS
Zhou
Xia-Qiu
XQ
D002908:Chronic Disease; D003955:Diagnostic Tests, Routine; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology*; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000473:pathology; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity