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ARFI Accurately Detected Liver Fibrosis Stage in Patients with HCV

Acoustic radiation force impulse was effective and accurate when detecting liver fibrosis stage among patients with chronic hepatitis C virus, according to new data.

Researchers analyzed data from 128 patients (mean age, 69.1 years; 67.2% men) with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) enrolled at Daqing Longnan Hospital in China between February 2011 and June 2013. All patients underwent liver biopsy, acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) elastometry and aspartate aminotransferase to platelet (AST/PLT) ratio index (APRI) to determine liver fibrosis and to help clinicians determine the best method for diagnosing patients with chronic HCV.

Researchers used ARFI, a color Doppler ultrasound technique; and automatic biochemistry and hematology analyzers to assess AST/PLT levels in all patients. Results indicated that ARFI and APRI values were correlated with liver fibrosis stage, and values increased as fibrosis stage worsened (P<.05).

Patients with stage 1 fibrosis (n=41) had ARFI values of 1.23 ± 0.34 m/second and APRI values of 0.31 ± 0.45 m/second, compared with stage 4 patients (n=17) who had ARFI and APRI values of 2.3 ± 0.87 m/second and 0.65 ± 0.34 m/second, respectively. All ARFI values for patients with fibrosis of at least stage 2 and equal to stage 4 were greater than APRI values. Researchers said this indicated that ARFI produced a greater credibility rate for detecting liver fibrosis than APRI.

“These preliminary findings could be used as an important reference for clinical investigations on noninvasive modalities for diagnosing liver fibrosis stages in patients with chronic hepatitis C,” the researchers wrote. “ARFI is more accurate than APRI [in detecting liver fibrosis stages in chronic HCV].”

Disclosure: Relevant financial disclosures were not provided by researchers.