Real-time elastography in diagnosis of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic liver disease

Objective To investigate the value of real-time ultrasound elastography(RTE) in diagnosing liver fibrosis in patients with chronic liver disease.Methods Totally 88 patients who suffered chronic viral hepatitis underwent RTE.The elastic strain ratio of liver tissue to intercostal muscle tissue was measured,and histological fibrosis stages and blood parameters were collected.Then elastic strain ratio and laboratory test results were compared with histological fibrosis stages.Results Negative correlation was found between the elastic strain ratio and the histological fibrosis stages(r=-0.82,P0.01).Taking significant liver fibrosis(≥S2) as the diagnostic criteria,the area under ROC curve of elastic strain ratio was 0.92,superior to that of aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index(0.90) and Forns Index(0.84).When 1.10 was used as the cut-off value of elastic strain ratio for the diagnosis of significant fibrosis,the sensitivity was 86.84%,and the specificity was 82.00%,the positive predictive value was 78.57%,the negative predictive value was 89.13%.Conclusion RTE can be used as a new method for non-invasively diagnosis for the degrees of liver fibrosis.