Abstract
Background
Data on noninvasive liver fibrosis staging after viral eradication are unclear. This histology-based study validated the performance of liver stiffness (LS) measurements after viral eradication.
Methods
Consecutive participants with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) who received concomitant LS measurements through acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) elastography and percutaneous liver biopsy were prospectively screened and analyzed.
Results
Of the 644 patients, 521 (80.9%) underwent a biopsy at treatment baseline, and the remaining 123 (19.1%) underwent a biopsy at 3 years (median; interquartile range, 0.1) after the sustained virological response (SVR) to pegylated interferon–based and direct-acting antiviral treatments. The proportions of histological fibrosis stages did not differ significantly between the pretreatment and post-SVR groups (P = .0615). However, the LS values differed significantly (P < .0001). The median LS values (presented as shear wave velocities in meters per second) were 1.51 (0.92) for the pretreatment group and 1.22 (0.77) for the post-SVR group. The cutoffs (areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve, obtained using the bootstrap method) to dichotomize between METAVIR fibrosis stage F1 versus stages F2–F4, F1–F2 versus F3–F4, and F1–F3 versus F4 were 1.47 (0.8333, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.7981–0.8663), 1.81 (0.8763, 95% CI 0.8376–0.9107), and 1.86 (0.8811, 95% CI 0.8378–0.9179) in the pretreatment group, respectively, and 1.22 (0.7872, 95% CI 0.7001–0.8624), 1.59 (0.8808, 95% CI 0.8034–0.9422), and 1.75 (0.9018, 95% CI 0.8201–0.9644) in the post-SVR group, respectively.
Conclusions
The performance of LS measurements through ARFI elastography is promising to determine the liver fibrosis stage on necroinflammation-resolved histology in CHC after viral eradication.
Evaluation of acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) elastography as a tool for non invasive detection and grading of liver fibrosis with histopathology correlation