Noninvasive Prediction of Fibrosis in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C

An accurate noninvasive index to predict fibrosis could obviate the need for liver biopsy in some patients with chronic hepatitis C. In this study, Japanese researchers derived a predictive index from 240 patients with chronic hepatitis C who had undergone liver biopsy.

On multivariate analysis, three variables — platelet count, aspartate aminotransferase, and gamma globulin — emerged as independent predictors of fibrosis and enabled the researchers to construct a FibroIndex score, which is calculated with this equation:

FibroIndex = 1.738 – 0.064 (platelet count per cubic mm/10⁴) + 0.005 (AST [IU/L]) + 0.463 (gamma globulin [g/dL])

Of 54 patients with a score of 1.25 or less, 47 (87%) did not have significant fibrosis on biopsy. Of 47 patient…