Serum fibrosis markers correlate with liver fibrosis stage in patients with advanced chr...( A prospective study of patients with...),Health

A prospective study of patients with advanced chronic hepatitis C (CHC) revealed that a 3-variable model of serum fibrosis markers, including serum HA, TIMP-1 and platelet count, could identify cirrhosis with better accuracy than other published models. These findings are in the March issue of Hepatology, a journal published by John Wiley & Sons on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). The article is also available online at Wiley Interscience (http://www.interscience.wiley.com/journal/hepatology).

Liver biopsy is currently considered the best way to assess the stage and severity of chronic liver disease. However, it is limited by sampling error, understaging and variability in interpretation. Also, because of its risks, inconvenience and costs, it isnt practical to use to follow disease progression and treatment effects. As a result, researchers have been trying to develop less invasive tests that can accurately predict disease stage and fibrosis progression.

Researchers led by Robert Fontana of the University of Michigan Medical School examined a panel of serum fibrosis markers along with routine laboratory tests for their ability to estimate cirrhosis in a cohort of patients with advanced hepatitis C. They included 513 patients enrolled in the HALT-C trial, a prospective multi-center NIH study of extended peginterferon therapy for patients with hepatitis C and advanced fibrosis who were non-responders to prior antiviral therapy.

Fontana and his colleagues aimed to determine the utility of a panel of serum fibrosis markers including serum PIIINP, TIMP-1, HA, and YKL-40 in estimating initial disease stage in the subjects by comparing the markers with each patients Ishak fibrosis score from liver biopsy. They also examined the relationship between the serum fibrosis markers and hepatic collagen content as measured by computerized
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