Evaluating M2BPGi as a Marker for Liver Fibrosis in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B.

BACKGROUND: The accurate evaluation of liver fibrosis is crucial for the treatment and follow up of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients. AIM: We examined the efficiency of serum Mac-2 Binding Protein Glycosylation isomer (M2BPGi) in diagnosing liver fibrosis stages in CHB patients. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 177 adult CHB patients visiting the University Medical Center Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam between October 2019 and December 2021. M2BPGi, ARFI, APRI, and FIB-4 were tested against FibroScan® for sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV). The optimal M2BPGi cut-off values were identified based on the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve. RESULTS: There was a strong agreement between M2BPGi and FibroScan® (r = 0.77, P < 0.001). The optimal M2BPGi cut-off index (C.O.I) for detecting significant fibrosis (F ≥ 2) was 0.79 with an AUROC of 0.77, 67.3% sensitivity, 70% specificity, 60.6% NPV, and 75.3% PPV. Compared with APRI (61%) and FIB-4 (47%), M2BPGi had the greatest sensitivity for diagnosing F ≥ 2. M2BPGi combined with APRI yielded highest diagnosis performance for F ≥ 2 with an AUROC of 0.87. The optimal cut-off index of M2BPGi for diagnosing cirrhosis (F4) was 1.3 with an AUROC of 0.91, 88% sensitivity, 87.4% specificity, 97% NPV, and 61% PPV. The AUROC of M2BPGi for diagnosing F4 was comparable to that of ARFI (0.93). CONCLUSIONS: With cut-off values of 0.79 C.O.I and 1.3 C.O.I, M2BPGi could be an effective method for diagnosing significant fibrosis and cirrhosis in CHB patients, respectively.

Diagnostic Performance of Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse Imaging in Evaluating Liver Fibrosis in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B Infection: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background Acoustic radiation force impulse point shear wave elastography (ARFI-pSWE), measuring shear-wave velocity (SWV), has been utilized to examine the liver stiffness caused by different etiologies. However, information on its reliability in staging liver fibrosis in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients is scarce. Purpose The aim of the study is to examine the diagnostic performance of ARFI-pSWE and determine the optimal SWV cut-off values to predict significant fibrosis ( F ≥2) and cirrhosis (F4) in CHB patients. Material and Methods All 114 adult CHB patients visiting the University Medical Center, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam between February 2019 and March 2021 underwent liver stiffness measurement using ARFI-pSWE and FibroScan. SWV results were tested against FibroScan for sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV). The area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve was used to identify the optimal SWV cut-off values. Results There was a strong agreement between ARFI-pSWE and FibroScan ( r = 0.92, p <0.001). The optimal SWV cut-off value for detecting significant fibrosis was 1.37 m/s with an AUROC of 0.975, sensitivity of 83.3%, specificity of 100%, PPV of 100%, and NPV of 81%. The optimal cut-off value for predicting cirrhosis was 1.70 m/s with an AUROC of 0.986, sensitivity of 97%, specificity of 93%, PPV of 95%, and NPV of 96%. Conclusion ARFI-pSWE could be an effective technique for evaluating liver fibrosis in CHB patients. SWV cut-off values of 1.37 and 1.70 m/s could be used to diagnose significant fibrosis and cirrhosis, respectively.