Alternatives to Biopsy for Prognosis of Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C Infection

The degree of liver fibrosis is important for prognosis of chronic liver disease. Advanced stages of fibrosis can lead to serious adverse events, including portal hypertension-related complications and hepatocellular carcinoma. Currently, liver biopsy is considered the gold standard to assess liver fibrosis; however, noninvasive tests have demonstrated reasonable accuracy. Now, researchers in France have prospectively studied these noninvasive tests for their long-term prognostic abilities for survival and liver-related death in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.

At baseline, all patients received physical exams, laboratory and radiologic testing, and four noninvasive diagnostic tests: FibroScan imaging (liver stiffness…