[Clinical application of non-invasive diagnosis for hepatic fibrosis].
Progressive hepatic fibrosis with development of cirrhosis is a feature of chronic liver disease. Assessing fibrosis is important for predicting disease progression and patient management. Liver biopsy is the current gold standard for the diagnosis of liver fibrosis. However, liver biopsy is an invasive procedure. Alternative non-invasive methods have been developed. Serum markers are useful in predicting liver cirrhosis, but accuracy of serum markers is not satisfactory in the assessment of fibrosis. Newly developed transient elastography (Fibroscan) is a non-invasive method of measuring liver stiffness. Fibroscan has been reported to be superior in early detection of cirrhosis to serum markers. Factors influencing it's performance are not fully investigated. The evaluation of new tests should be continued to perform.
Cho
Sung Won
SW
Gastroenterology Department, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea. sung_woncho@hotmail.com
Cheong
Jae Youn
JY
D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002908:Chronic Disease; D018450:Disease Progression; D054459:Elasticity Imaging Techniques / Q000379:methods; D005355:Fibrosis; D006801:Humans; D006820:Hyaluronic Acid / Q000032:analysis; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology*; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology
D015415:Biomarkers; D006820:Hyaluronic Acid