Liverbiopsy is the gold standard for assessing liver fibrosis; however, it has a relatively high risk of resulting in complications. Although a non-invasive method (i.e., transientelastography—fibroscan) was introduced, it is expensive and is dependent on the patient's status. Thus, the FIB-4 score, a non-invasive formula, has been used to predict the degree of liver fibrosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of the FIB-4 score in predicting stages of liver fibrosis.
The FIB-4 cut-off values, as determined using two different criteria, have the highest AUC, thereby indicating a robust ability to distinguish between healthy livertissue and the presence of any liver fibrosis. The FIB-4 score with a cut-off value of 2.07, as determined by Mueller et al., had the highest AUC (0.837) and odds ratio (2.741) with a sensitivity of 78.3% and a specificity of 76.5%.
CONCLUSIONS:
An FIB-4 score of 2.07 is a cut-off value that is useful in detecting fibrotic progression in chronic liver disease in our laboratory. Each laboratory should determine an appropriate FIB-4 cut-off value that is relative to the particular characteristics of their patientpopulation.