An ultrasonic scoring system for assessing the severity of hepatic fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B / 中华肝脏病杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To discuss the diagnostic value of an ultrasonic assessing system for detecting the severity of hepatic fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Ultrasonographic variables were analyzed in 110 CHB patients. An ultrasonic semi-quantitative scoring system using seven ultrasonic morphologic parameters, a Fisher discriminating function and three quantitative ultrasonic parameters was developed. The performance of these methods was also studied and compared.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The areas under the curve of the scoring system for different liver fibrosis stages were >or= S2 0.946, >or= S3 0.914, and S4 0.915. The total score was well correlated with the histological stage of fibrosis (r=0.824, P < 0.001). There was a significant difference between the stages of fibrosis. The accuracy of the Fisher discriminating function for identifying three study endpoints was 76.5%, 78.2% and 67.3%. Combining the ultrasonic scoring system and the discriminating function, the specificity was 85%-90% and the accuracy was 77%-84%.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Our ultrasonic semi-quantitative scoring system is a noninvasive method for quantitating liver fibrosis. If it is used together with a discriminating function, the accuracy of diagnosing liver fibrosis can be significantly increased.</p>