title: [Liver stiffness measurement for the diagnosis of hepatic fibrosis in patients with chronic viral hepatitis].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  FibroScan is a new medical device that noninvasively measures liver stiffness. The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy of the liver stiffness measurement by FibroScan for making the diagnosis of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic viral hepatitis.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied 103 patients with chronic viral hepatitis B or C and they underwent FibroScan and liver biopsy between October 2005 and August 2006. Liver fibrosis was staged on a 0-4 scale according to the Korean Society of Pathologists Scoring System. The diagnostic accuracy was assessed by analysis of the receiver operator characteristics (ROC).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The liver stiffness was 3.5-57.1 kPa (mean: 11.8, SD: 8.9). The mean value of liver stiffness in each fibrosis stage group (F1, F2, F3 and F4) was 5.8+/-1.8 kPa, 11.3+/-6.8 kPa, 11.8+/-6.0 kPa and 23.4+/-16.5 kPa, respectively. Liver stiffness measured by FibroScan showed reliable correlation with the liver fibrosis stage as confirmed by liver biopsy (r=0.56, p<0.001). The AUROC (95% CI) of > or = F2, > or = F3 and F4 was 0.93 (0.86-0.99), 0.72 (0.62-0.82) and 0.80 (0.67-0.92), respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of 7.5 kPa, which was the cutoff value for > or = F2, was 84% and 90%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  FibroScan is a reliable method for the diagnosis of significant fibrosis (> or =F2) and cirrhosis in patients with chronic liver disease. The liver stiffness measurement by FibroScan showed good diagnostic performance for significant fibrosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea.
authors.forename: Joon Koo
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Jae Youn
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Cheong
authors.forename: Sung Won
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Jin Hui
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Jin Sun
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Yeong Bae
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Dong Joon
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Seong Gyu
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: Jin Mo
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Young Nyun
authors.initials: YN
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012372:ROC Curve; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014463:Ultrasonography