Efficacy of FibroScan in assessing esophageal varices in patients with chronic hepatitis B / 解放军医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Object To investigate the value of FibroScan in predicting the occurrence and grading of esophageal varices (EVs) in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). Methods The clinical data of 563 CHB patients, who had undergone endoscopy in Southwest Hospital of Third Military Medical University, liver stiffness measurement (LSM, measured by FibroScan) and laboratory tests from October 2010 to July 2014, were analyzed retrospectively. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and area under ROC (AUROC) were generated to assess the clinical value of FibroScan. Results Three hundred and ninety-six patients with CHB were included in our study. The correlation coefficients between LSM, platelet count, total bilirubin, albumin and the grade of EVs were 0.605,-0.511, 0.523,-0.609, respectively. The LSM cutoffs to predict EVs (G1-G3), EVs (G2-G3), EVs (G3) were 9.9, 12.2, and 17.7kPa, respectively, with the sensitivity and specificity over 60%. The corresponding AUROCs were 0.765 (P<0.001), 0.884 (P<0.001), 0.837 (P<0.001), respectively. Conclusions FibroScan is a useful and noninvasive tool to predict the presence and grades of EVs in patients with CHB. Though FibroScan may not be adequate to replace endoscopy completely, it would be helpful in selecting patients for endoscopic screening.