MARINHO, R.; SEREJO, F.; VELOSA, J.    MOURA, M. Carneiro de. Clinical usefulness of transitory hepatic elastography (FibroScan®) in the diagnosis of cirrhosis. []. , 14, 1, pp.16-21. ISSN 0872-8178.

Introduction: FibroScan®, is a non-invasive ultrasound device used to quantify liver fibrosis. Aims:Assess clinical usefulness of the FibroScan® in the diagnosis of cirrhosis. Methods: The FibroScan® was performed (kilopascals, kPa) on 120 patients, all with a liver biopsy: 61 with liver cirrhosis of diverse etiologies (31 hepatitis C) and 59 without cirrhosis (55 with chronic hepatitis C). Results: The median in cirrhosis was 16.9 kPa (4.5 - 70.5), and in those without cirrhosis 5.8 kPa (3.8 - 19.6), p < 0,05. The highest values in patients with cirrhosis were found in those with combined causes for liver disease such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C, alcohol, HIV: 57 kPa (7.7 - 75) compared to those with one only factor, 14 kPa (4.5 - 46.4), p <0.001. The median was not different between the different causes of liver cirrhosis. For a cut-off level of 12 kPa and considering all causes of cirrhosis, the sensitivity was 64%, specificity 98%, positive predictive value (PPV) 98% and negative predictive value (NPV) 73%, AUROC 0.93. Conclusions: FibroScan® is a clinically useful non-invasive tool in the assessment of liver cirrhosis. For a cut-off level of 12 kPa the PPV and the specificity were very high.

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