Liver fibrosis evaluation by ARFI and APRI in chronic hepatitis C

AIM:To explore the value of liver fibrosis assessment by acoustic radiation force impulse(ARFI)and the AST/PLT ratio index(APRI)in chronic hepatitis C patients.METHODS:One hundred and twenty eight patients with chronic hepatitis C were examined using ARFI elastometry and APRI,calculated according to known formulae.The gold standard of liver biopsy was referred;ROC curve analysis was used to assess all ARFI and APRI values.The corresponding cut-off values,sensitivities,and specificities were calculated and compared.In addition,the correlation of liver fibrosis stages in chronic hepatitis C patients with ARFI measurements and APRI were also tested to evaluate significant data.RESULTS:The values of ARFI in S1-S4 were 1.23±0.34 m/s,1.48±0.43 m/s,2.06±0.45 m/s,and 2.30±0.87 m/s.The values of APRI in S1-S4 were 0.31±0.45 m/s,0.28±0.38 m/s,0.58±0.59 m/s and0.65±0.34 m/s.ARFI(r=0.649,P0.05)showed a better correlation with liver fibrosis stages in chronic hepatitis C than APRI(r=0.478,P0.05).The areas under the ROC curves for ARFI and APRI were 0.775and 0.721 for stages≥S2,0.901 and 0.787 for stages≥S3,and 0.792 and 0.780 for S=4,respectively.CONCLUSION:Both ARFI and APRI could evaluate liver fibrosis stages in chronic hepatitis C.ARFI is more accurate than the APRI index.