title: [Performance of FibroScan in evaluating the curative effects of traditional Chinese medicine on liver fibrosis].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the performance of FibroScan in evaluating the curative effects of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) on liver fibrosis, and to analyze factors influencing the diagnostic accuracy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data of FibroScan values, types of disease, use of drug, liver function indexes, prothrombin time (PT) and international normalized ratio (INR) were collected at both pre- (1 month prior) and post-FibroScan for 102 patients who underwent at least two FibroScan procedures. Patients were subgrouped according to presence of fibrosis, presence of cirrhosis, and TCM formulation and statistically analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The pre- and post-FibroScan mean liver stiffness measurements (LSMs) were significantly different when the variation of LSM was more than or equal to2 kPa for the non-fibrotic group (vs. the fibrotic group), or when the variation wasmore than or equal to4 kPa for the cirrhotic group (vs. the non-cirrhotic group). In addition, the three TCM formulation groups showed significant differences, with the most robust difference exhibited between the FuZheng HuaYu formulation group and the other treatment groups (P = 0.010). No significant differences were observed for the liver function indexes, PT, or INR. However, the post-FibroScan levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) was significantly reduced in patients with reduced LSM.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  FibroScan may be a useful non-invasive clinical tool for evaluating the comprehensive curative effect of treatments for chronic liver diseases, and its performance is not obviously impacted by ALT, AST, GGT, PT, and INR. The criteria for efficacy established by FibroScan are 2 kPa for the patients without liver fibrosis and 4 kPa for patients with liver cirrhosis.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Liver Diseases, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors.forename: Li-Jing
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Gao-Feng
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Hong-Tu
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Ji-Li
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.forename: Chang-Qing
authors.initials: CQ
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Lie-Ming
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Xu