[Comparative study of transient elastography versus real-time tissue elastography for assessment of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic liver disease].

OBJECTIVE: To compare the abilities of transient elastography (TE) versus real-time tissue elastography (RTE) for assessing liver fibrosis in patients with chronic liver disease. METHODS: Ninetytwo patients with chronic liver disease were enrolled in the study, and included 77 cases of chronic hepatitis B, 4 cases of chronic hepatitis C, 4 cases of autoimmune liver disease, 2 cases of primary biliary cirrhosis, I case of abnormal bile duct development, and 4 cases of unknown etiology.All patients were assessed by both TE and RTE in a single day.The correlation coefficient of liver fibrosis level and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of S more than 2 and =4 of TE and RTE were determined.The values were compared using findings fiom pathological analysis as reference. RESULTS: The correlation coefficient of liver fibrosis level was significantly higher for TE (r =0.755, 95% CI:0.651-0.831, P =0.000) than for RTE (r=0.481, 95% CI:0.306-0.624, P =0.000) (Z=3.07, P =0.002).The areas under the ROC curves for S more than 2 and =4 were 0.903 and 0.740 for TE and 0.915 and 0.786 for RTE, respectively, indicating that the performance of TE was superior to that of RTE. CONCLUSION: TE was superior to RTE for assessment of liver fibrosis.