Fibroindex, a practical index for predicting significant fibrosis in patients wi

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Hepatology. 2007 Jan 26;45(2):297-306 [Epub ahead of print]

Fibroindex, a practical index for predicting significant fibrosis in

patients with chronic hepatitis C.

Koda M, Matunaga Y, Kawakami M, Kishimoto Y, Suou T, Murawaki Y.

Second Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Tottori

University, Yonago, Tottori, Japan.

Diagnosis of the stage of liver fibrosis in chronic hepatitis C is essential

for making a prognosis and deciding on antiviral therapy. In the present

study a simple model consisting of routine laboratory tests was constructed

and then validated in cross-sectional and longitudinal investigations.

Consecutive treatment-naive patients with chronic hepatitis C who had

undergone liver biopsy were divided into 2 cohorts: an estimation set (n =

240) and a validation set (n = 120). A longitudinal set consisted of 30

patients who had undergone a liver biopsy twice, before and after IFN

treatment. The FibroIndex was derived from the platelet count, AST, and

gamma globulin measurements in the estimation set. The areas under the ROC

curves of the FibroIndex for predicting significant fibrosis were 0.83 and

0.82 for the validation set, better than those of the Forns index and the

aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio index (APRI). Using the best cutoff

values, whether significant fibrosis was present was diagnosed with high

positive predictive values, and 35% of patients could avoid liver biopsy. In

the longitudinal set, there was a significant decrease in the FibroIndex of

14 patients whose fibrosis stage improved, and a significant increase in

that of 5 patients whose fibrosis stage deteriorated. Change in the

FibroIndex correlated significantly with variation in fibrosis stage. There

was no such correlation with the Forns index or the APRI. Conclusion: The

FibroIndex is a simple and reliable index for predicting significant

fibrosis in chronic hepatitis C and could also be used as a surrogate marker

during antifibrotic treatment for chronic hepatitis C. (HEPATOLOGY

2007;45:297-306.).

PMID: 17256741 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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