[Clinical efficacy of AST/ALT ratio and platelet counts as predictors of degree of fibrosis in HBV infected patients without clinically evident liver cirrhosis].
OBJECTIVE
Hepatic fibrosis is an important prognostic factor in chronic hepatitis B. Liver biopsy is a gold standard diagnostic tool but an invasive procedure, so it cannot be done on all patients. We evaluated the clinical efficacy of AST/ALT ratio and platelet counts as predictors of fibrosis in chronic hepatitis B.


METHODS
We reviewed retrospectively clinical records of 323 patients, who visited Kyungpook National University Hospital for chronic hepatitis B and underwent liver biopsy from September 1998 to May 2002. Correlation with laboratory parameters with hepatic fibrosis stage was identified.


RESULTS
Of 323 patients, there were 278 male patients with mean age 27 (9~59). Platelet counts showed a significant correlation (r=-0.343, p=0.000), and AST/ALT ratio showed a weak but significant correlation (r=0.137, p=0.013) with fibrosis stage. Patients with severe fibrosis or cirrhosis (stage 3 and 4) can be identified to have AST/ALT ratio > 1 and platelet counts < 150,000/mm3, which showed with positive predictive value of 66.7%. Sensitivity, specificity, and negative predictive value were 14.6%, 97.5%, and 77.0%, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
In chronic hepatitis B patients without clinical evidence of cirrhosis, severe hepatic fibrosis might be predicted using laboratory parameters of AST/ALT > 1 in combination with platelet counts. However, its sensitivity is too low to replace liver biopsy.
Park
Soo Young
SY
Department of Internal Medicine and Liver Research Institute, Kyungpook National University College of Medicine, 50 Samduck 2-dong, Jung-gu, Daegu 700-412, Korea.
Kang
Kyung Hee
KH
Park
Jee Hyun
JH
Lee
Jong Hyup
JH
Cho
Chang Min
CM
Tak
Won Young
WY
Kweon
Young Oh
YO
Kim
Sung Kook
SK
Choi
Yong Hwan
YH
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood*; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases / Q000097:blood*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010976:Platelet Count; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D015415:Biomarkers; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases; D000410:Alanine Transaminase