Elastography for Hepatic Fibrosis Severity in Chronic Hepatitis B or C

Abstract

Aims: To assess the value of transient elastography for predicting significant fibrosis or cirrhosis in chronic hepatitis B or C (CHB or CHC) patients. Methods: 75 patients (CHB: 45, CHC: 32) were included. All underwent elastography and liver biopsy concurrently. Biopsies were evaluated using Ishak’s classification. Fibrosis was mild, moderate or severe/cirrhosis when scores were 0–1 (n = 30), 2–3 (n = 20), 4–6 (n = 25), respectively. Results: Median liver stiffness values were higher in patients with severe fibrosis or cirrhosis than in those with moderate or mild fibrosis (14.8 vs. 6.4 vs. 5.3 kPa, p Conclusion: Transient elastography has an excellent diagnostic accuracy for severe fibrosis and cirrhosis in CHB and CHC, but the cutoffs need further evaluation.

Keywords

• Transient elastography
• Fibroscan
• Surrogate markers
• Liver biopsy
• Chronic hepatitis
• Liver fibrosis
• Cirrhosis