[Liver stiffness measurement for the diagnosis of hepatic fibrosis in patients with chronic viral hepatitis].
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.
Kang
Joon Koo
JK
Department of Gastroenterology, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea.
Cheong
Jae Youn
JY
Cho
Sung Won
SW
Cho
Jin Hui
JH
Park
Jin Sun
JS
Kim
Yeong Bae
YB
Kim
Dong Joon
DJ
Hwang
Seong Gyu
SG
Yang
Jin Mo
JM
Park
Young Nyun
YN
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