title: Simple non-invasive markers as a predictor of fibrosis and viral response in chronic hepatitis C patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Chronic hepatitis C has a high prevalence and leads to development of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Liver fibrosis staging is one of the main factors that influence the decision to indicate therapy for chronic hepatitis C carriers. Several simple laboratory tests, scores and indices have been proposed for the non-invasive prediction of hepatic fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C. The purpose of this study was to evaluate non-invasive liver fibrosis tests as a predictive factor of fibrosis and non-sustained viral response (relapse/non-responder) in chronic hepatitis C naive patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a retrospective case-control study with utilization of non-invasive liver fibrosis test, platelet count, aspartate aminotransferase/alanine aminotransferase ratio, age-platelet index and aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index, as a predictor of non-sustained viral response in chronic hepatitis C naive patients between July 2008 and August 2010 in İzmir Atatürk Training and Research Hospital.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We observed non-invasive liver fibrosis test to be highly effective in predicting non-sustained viral response patients, especially with age-platelet index (Accuracy=73%, OR=6.93, 95% CI, 2.41-19.8). A strong relationship was shown with multivariate analysis between non-sustained viral response and some non-invasive liver fibrosis tests such as viral load (OR=4.51, 95% CI, 1.16 -17.6, p=0.03) and age-platelet index (OR=11.8, 95% CI, 2.25-62.15, p=0.004).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  If non-invasive tests could be standardized according to age, gender, race, and body mass index and individualized according to the fibrosis, then a nearly full correlation of non-invasive liver fibrosis test with histologic results could be obtained, stage of fibrosis could be predicted initially, sustained viral response/non-sustained viral response could be estimated, and the need for a repeat biopsy could be eliminated.
authors.affiliation: İzmir Atatürk Training and Research Hospital, Department of Gastroenterology, İzmir, Turkey. mahmutarabul02@gmail.com
authors.forename: Mahmut
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arabul
authors.forename: Fatih
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Aslan
authors.forename: Emrah
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Alper
authors.forename: Zehra
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Akpinar
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Çelık
authors.forename: Altay
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kandemır
authors.forename: Sezgin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vatansever
authors.forename: Belkıs
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ünsal
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood*; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases / Q000097:blood*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000276:immunology*; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D008111:Liver Function Tests; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010976:Platelet Count; D011379:Prognosis; D012372:ROC Curve; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D019562:Viral Load; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases; D000410:Alanine Transaminase