Correlation Between Liver Elasticity Measured by Fibroscan and Liver Fibrosis Assessed by Histology in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B

Abstract

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a global public health problem. The need for non-invasive tools to assess liver fibrosis in chronic liver diseases has been largely advocated. This study aims to assess correlation and diagnostic accuracy between liver elasticity measured by fibroscan and liver fibrosis assessed by histology in patients with chronic hepatitis B. For the purpose 70 patients with chronic hepatitis B were selected. They underwent liver biopsy, LSM and complete histopathological examination including HAI and Knodell score. In histological examination stage -1 fibrosis was 78.6%, stage -3 was 20% and stage– 4 was 1.4%. In LSM staging, F1 fibrosis was 71.4%, F2 fibrosis was 4.3%, F3 fibrosis was18.6% and F4 fibrosis was 5.7%. The optimal cut off values in the study were 7.2, 10.5 and 18.2 kpa for the diagnosis of F-2, F-3 and F=4 respectively which was strongly correlated with fibrosis stage (r=.608, p=.000). This study showed that LSM is an accurate method for the diagnosis of fibrosis stage in patients with chronic hepatitis B and may be a useful tool in the management of these patients besides liver biopsy.