[Value of FIB-4 for the diagnosis of liver fibrosis in chronic hepatitis B].

OBJECTIVE: To assess the diagnostic value of FIB-4 in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) by comparing their results with histological features. METHODS: 212 chronic hepatitis B patients underwent liver biopsy with a blood sample taken simultaneously. The serum level of ALT, AST, PLT were tested. These results together with age of the patients were put into the formula and final results of FIB-4 were computed. Three different endpoints were studied according to liver fibrosis stage, namely significant fibrosis (S2 to s4), extensive fibrosis (S3 to S4) and cirrhosis (S4). With liver biopsy as the gold standard, ROC curves were delineated for different endpoints. The area under the ROC curves reflected its diagnostic values. RESULTS: The distribution of their fibrosis stage was as follows, S0:3 (1.4%); S1:49 (23.1%); S2:66 (31.1%); S3:50 (23.6%); S4:44 (20.8%). That means 160 patients (75.5%) had significant fibrosis (S2 to S4), 94 (44.3%) had extensive fibrosis (S3 to S4) and 44 (20.8%) had cirrhosis (S4). The AUCs of FIB-4 for significant fibrosis, extensive fibrosis and cirrhosis were 0.733 (95% CI: 0.660-0.806, P < 0.01), 0.746 (95% CI: 0.679-0.813, P < 0.01), 0.756 (95% CI: 0.687-0.825, P < 0.01) respectively. CONCLUSION: The FIB-4 index is a simple, accurate and inexpensive methed to assess liver fibrosis in chronic hepatitis and may reduce the need for liver biopsy.