Value of liver stiffness measurement in the diagnosis of liver fibrosis degree in HBeAg-positive patients with chronic HBV infection

To investigate the value of liver stiffness measurement (LSM) in the diagnosis of liver fibrosis degree in HBeAg-positive patients with chronic HBV infection. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed for the clinical data of 330 HBeAg-positive patients with chronic HBV infection who were hospitalized in Affiliated Hospital of Yan'an University from October 2013 to August 2018 and underwent liver biopsy, and according to liver pathological results, these patients were divided into mild liver fibrosis group (F0-F1) and significant liver fibrosis group (F2-F4) . The t-test or the Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparison of continuous data between two groups, and the chi-square test was used for comparison of categorical data between two groups. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to screen out the indices for the diagnosis of significant liver fibrosis, and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was plotted for these indices to evaluate their value in the diagnosis of significant liver fibrosis. Results Of all 330 patients, 245 had mild liver fibrosis and 85 had significant liver fibrosis. There were significant differences between the two groups in HBV DNA, HBsAg, HBeAg, HBcAb, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, total bilirubin, and LSM (all P < 0. 05) . The multivariate analysis showed that HBsAg and LSM were independent risk factors for significant liver fibrosis (both P < 0. 05) . The ROC curve analysis showed that only LSM had a diagnostic value, with an area under the ROC curve of 0. 744 (95% confidence interval: 0. 680-0. 808) . At the optimal cut-off value of6. 15 kPa, LSM had a sensitivity of 62. 4%, a specificity of 76. 3%, an accuracy of 72. 1%, a positive predictive value of 72. 5%, and a negative predictive value of 67. 0% in predicting significant liver fibrosis. Conclusion LSM has a good value in predicting significant liver fibrosis in HBeAg-positive patients with chronic HBV infection.