Accuracy of FibroScan for diagnosing liver fibrosis

Objective To evaluate the accuracy of transient elastometry(FibroScan) for the detection of liver fibrosis.Methods A total of 323 patients diagnosed with chronic liver disease based on pathological examination in the 302 Hospital of the People’s Liberation Army from April to December of 2009 were involved in the current study.Among them,141 patients were subjected to liver biopsy.Their liver function,coagulant index,B-ultrasound and blood cell count were examined clinically.Four examinations related to liver fibrosis were done on some of the patients.Meanwhile,FibroScan was used for liver stiffness measurement(LSM) of every patient.The correlation between liver stiffness and the serologic index and liver fibrosis degree was analyzed.The Receive Operating Characteristic(ROC) curve was adopted to analyze the accuracy of FibroScan for diagnosing liver fibrosis.Results Each serologic index was significantly correlated with liver stiffness(P < 0.001),and liver stiffness was closely related to the stage of liver fibrosis(r=0.74,P < 0.001).The statistical results of the 141 patients who underwent pathologic examination show that the areas under the ROC curve were 0.97(0.94,1.00) for patients with portal fibrosis(F1),0.96(0.93,0.99) for patients with significant fibrosis(F2),0.99(0.98,1.00) for patients with severe fibrosis(F3),and 0.97(0.94,0.99) for patients with cirrhosis(F4).The cutoff values were 4.4KPa,6.8KPa,9.7KPa,and 10.0KPa,respectively.Conclusion FibroScan is valuable for the diagnosis of liver fibrosis.It can be used as the basis for follow-up and management of patients with chronic liver diseases.