Abstract: Object To use liver stiffness measurement (LSM) value and aspartate aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio index (APRI) to evaluate the fibrosis in patients with chronic liver diseases and to compare the results with those of clinical assessment of fibrosis by using liver biopsies as the reference standard. Methods Ninety four hospitalized patients with 42 chronic hepatitis B, 8 chronic hepatitis C, 6 non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, 11 autoimmune hepatitis, 7 Hereditary hyperbilirubinemia underwent FibroScan, blood count, liver function tests, as well as liver biopsies at the same or following next day between April 2009 and March 2010. Compared with histologic fibrosis stage at liver biopsy, all the LSM value and the calculated APRI were assessed by using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. The corresponding cut-off values, sensitivity and specificity were also calculated and compared. Results LSM and ARPI cut-off points were 8.1kPa, 0.45 for S of 2 or greater, 9.80, 0.98 for S of 3 or greater, and 13.1kPa, 0.98 for S of 4, respectively. Accordingly, the areas under the ROC curves (AUC) for LSM and ARPI were 0.85 and 0.67 for S of 2 or greater, 0.96 and 0.66 for S of 3 or greater, 0.97 and 0.72 for S of 4, respectively. LSM (r=0.64, P <0.05) performed better than ARPI (r=0.42, P <0.05). Conclusion LSM and APRI are not invasive and LSM is more accurate when applied to evaluate liver fibrosis in patients with chronic liver diseases. |