Application value of two-dimensional shear wave elastography and serological models in the staging of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B / 临床肝胆病杂志

ABSTRACT

ObjectiveTo investigate the value of two-dimensional shear wave elastography （2D-SWE） or serological models used alone or in combination in determining the stage of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B. MethodsA retrospective analysis was performed for the clinical data of 327 patients with chronic hepatitis B who were admitted to Mengchao Hepatobiliary Hospital of Fujian Medical University from August 2020 to August 2022 and underwent 2D-SWE and liver histopathological examination， including sex， age， serological markers， and 2D-SWE results. According to the degree of liver fibrosis， they were divided into S0-S1， S≥2， S≥3， and S=4 groups， and the serological models were calculated based on serological markers. A Spearman correlation analysis was used to investigate the correlation of 2D-SWE and serological models with liver fibrosis stage； the receiver operating characteristic curve was plotted with the results of liver histopathology as the standard to compare the efficiency of each parameter used alone or in combination in determining the stage of liver fibrosis； the Delong test was used to investigate the difference between different methods. ResultsLiver stiffness measurement measured by 2D-SWE was strongly correlated with the stage of liver fibrosis （r=0.741， P<0.001）， and as for the serological model， six markers （APRI， FIB-4， GPR， GP， RPR， and S index）， other than AAR， were positively correlated with the stage of liver fibrosis （all P<0.001）. 2D-SWE had an area under the ROC curve （AUC） of 0.878， 0.932， and 0.942， respectively， in the diagnosis of S≥2， S≥3， and S=4 liver fibrosis （all P<0.001）， with an optimal cut-off value of 6.9 kPa， 7.9 kPa， and 9.4 kPa， respectively. Among the serological models， APRI had the largest AUC of 0.788 and 0.875， respectively， in the diagnosis of S≥2 and S=4 liver fibrosis， and S index had the largest AUC of 0.846 in the diagnosis of S≥3 liver fibrosis. In the diagnosis of S≥2， S≥3， and S=4 liver fibrosis， 2D-SWE combined with APRI increased the AUC values to 0.887， 0.938， and 0.950， respectively， and 2D-SWE combined with S index increased the AUC values to 0.879， 0.935， and 0.941， respectively， while there were no significant differences between 2D-SWE and the above combinations （P>0.05）. Conclusion2D-SWE has a better diagnostic efficacy than the above seven serological models in determining liver fibrosis stage. The serological models have a certain diagnostic value， among which APRI and S index have a relatively high diagnostic value. There is no significant difference between 2D-SWE and 2D-SWE combined with serological models， and such combinations cannot significantly improve diagnostic efficiency. Therefore， further studies are needed to explore new combinations of diagnostic methods.