The role of fibroscan in assessment of liver cirrhosis in patients with chronic liver disease

Objective The aim of this study is to evaluate the accuracy of fibroscan in the assessment of liver cirrhosis in chronic liver disease. Background Fibroscan is a noninvasive imaging study for measuring liver stiffness by transducer probe-induced elastic share wave that propagates through liver tissue to measure its velocity. Patient and methods The present study was conducted on 50 patients with chronic liver disease. There were 32 males and 18 females, and their ages ranged from 34 to 75 years, with mean age of 51 years. The study was conducted in the hepatology units of Menoufiya University Hospitals, and the disease was confirmed by standard diagnostic criteria. All cases were subjected to the following protocol: full history, clinical examination, laboratory investigation, and ultrasound examination. The patients were subjected to fibroscan examination. The elasticity is directly correlated with the degree of hepatic fibrosis, and 7 kPa has been proposed as a cut-off for fibrosis equal to or greater than F2, and 12.5 kPa for cirrhosis. Results Liver stiffness was significantly correlated with liver cirrhosis. The fibroscan technique has high sensitivity and high specificity of 100%, with the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (95% confidence interval) of 1.00, at the cut-off level of 14.5 kPa. Conclusion Transient elastography is a promising noninvasive method for detection of cirrhosis in patients with chronic liver disease. Therefore, fibroscan can be used regarding the decision of treatment and follow-up of patients with cirrhosis for screening and detection of the complications.