Open AccessNoninvasive Diagnosis of Liver Fibrosis and Cirrhosis in Chronic Hepatitis C Patients
Author(s) -
Attallah Abdelfattah M.,
ElFar Mohamed,
Omran Mohamed M.,
Farid Khaled,
Albannan Mohamed S.,
ElDosoky Ibrahim
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of clinical laboratory analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.536
H-Index - 50
eISSN - 1098-2825
pISSN - 0887-8013
DOI - 10.1002/jcla.21572
Subject(s) - medicine , cirrhosis , gastroenterology , fibrosis , receiver operating characteristic , liver fibrosis , alanine aminotransferase , hepatic fibrosis , chronic hepatitis , stage (stratigraphy) , hepatitis c , immunology , paleontology , virus , biology
Background We aimed to derive a simple noninvasive test for liver‐fibrosis staging and then estimate its performance against four simple noninvasive tests in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients. Methods CHC patients were divided into two cohorts: an estimation set ( n = 324) and a validation set ( n = 524). Liver fibrosis was staged according to the METAVIR scoring system. Statistical analysis was done using stepwise linear discriminant analysis and area under receiver‐operating characteristic curves (AUCs). Results Biotechnology Research Center (BRC) score was constructed combining several blood markers that proved useful to stage liver fibrosis. Aspartate aminotransferase /alanine aminotransferase ratio (AAR), aspartate to platelet ratio index (APRI), Fibro‐α, King, and BRC scores correlated with the histological fibrosis stages with correlation coefficient 0.26, 0.36, 0.58, 0.45, and 0.73, respectively. BRC score produced AUCs 0.87, 0.83, and 0.89 for significant (F2–F4), advanced fibrosis (F3–F4), and cirrhosis (F4), respectively. These results were reproduced in the validation study with no significant difference yielding AUCs 0.85 for F2–F4, 0.82 for F3–F4, and 0.88 for F4. Conclusion BRC score, a novel noninvasive test, is a useful and easy tool to evaluate liver fibrosis in CHC patients and seems more efficient than AAR, APRI, Fibro‐α score, and King's score in this group of Egyptian patients. J. Clin. Lab. Anal. 27:121–129, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.