title: Inflammation-adapted liver stiffness values for improved fibrosis staging in patients with hepatitis C virus and alcoholic liver disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  It is well known that inflammation increases liver stiffness (LS) in patients with chronic hepatitis C (HCV) and alcoholic liver disease (ALD) independent of fibrosis stage, but no inflammation-adapted cut-off values have been settled so far. An early identification of rapid fibrosers, however, is essential to decide whom to treat first with the novel but expensive antiviral drugs.
  
  
  METHODS
  Liver stiffness, biopsy-proven fibrosis stages F0-F4 (METAVIR or Kleiner score) and routine laboratory parameters were studied in 2068 patients with HCV (n = 1391) and ALD (n = 677).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the routine parameters for liver damage, AST correlated best with LS (HCV: r = 0.54, P < 0.0001 and ALD: r = 0.34, P < 0.0001). In the absence of elevated transaminases, cut-off values were almost identical between HCV and ALD for F1-2, F3 and F4 (HCV: 5.1, 9.0 and 11.9 kPa vs ALD: 4.9, 8.1 and 10.5 kPa). These cut-off values increased exponentially as a function of median AST level. The impact of AST on LS was higher in lobular-pronounced ALD as compared to portal tract-localized HCV. Most notably, Cohen's weighted Kappa displayed an improved agreement of the novel AST-dependent cut-off values with histological fibrosis stage both for HCV (0.68 vs 0.65) and ALD (0.80 vs 0.76).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The novel AST-adapted cut-off values improve non-invasive fibrosis staging in HCV and ALD and may be also applied to other liver diseases. Especially in HCV, they could help to decide whom to treat first with the novel but expensive antiviral drugs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Salem Medical Center, Heidelberg, Germany.|Center for Alcohol Research, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mueller
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Biometry und Informatics, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Englert
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Salem Medical Center, Heidelberg, Germany.|Center for Alcohol Research, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Helmut K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Seitz
authors.affiliation: Department of Ultrasonography, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Regional Institute of Gastroenterology and Hepatology "Prof. Dr. Octavian Fodor", Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Radu I
authors.initials: RI
authors.lastname: Badea
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine II, Petrus Hospital, Wuppertal, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Erhardt
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine I, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Bita
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bozaari
authors.affiliation: Liver Unit Jean Verdier Hospital, Université Paris 13, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Beaugrand
authors.affiliation: Department of Ultrasonography, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Regional Institute of Gastroenterology and Hepatology "Prof. Dr. Octavian Fodor", Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lupșor-Platon
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases / Q000032:analysis*; D001706:Biopsy / Q000379:methods; D018450:Disease Progression; D054459:Elasticity Imaging Techniques / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D008108:Liver Diseases, Alcoholic / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D062072:Patient Acuity; D011379:Prognosis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases
keywords: alcoholic liver disease; fibrosis; hepatitis C; inflammation; liver stiffness