Abstract | BACKGROUND: Accurate assessment of hepatic fibrosis in patients with chronic HBeAg-negative Hepatitis B is of crucial importance not only to predict the long-term clinical course, but also to evaluate antiviral therapy indication. The aim of this study was to prospectively assess the utility of point shear wave elastography (pSWE) for longitudinal non-invasive fibrosis assessment in a large cohort of untreated patients with chronic HBeAg-negative hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. METHODS: 407 consecutive patients with HBeAg-negative HBV infection who underwent pSWE, transient elastography (TE) as well as laboratory fibrosis markers, including fibrosis index based on four factors (FIB-4), aspartate to platelet ratio index (APRI) and FibroTest, on the same day were prospectively followed up for six years. Patients were classified into one of the three groups: inactive carriers (IC; HBV- DNA <2000 IU/mL and ALT <40 U/L); grey zone group 1 (GZ-1; HBV DNA <2000 IU/mL and ALT >40 U/L); grey zone group 2 (GZ-2; HBV- DNA >2000 IU/mL and ALT <40 U/L). RESULTS: pSWE results were significantly correlated with TE (r = 0.29, p < 0.001) and APRI (r = 0.17; p = 0.005). Median pSWE values did not differ between IC, GZ-1 and GZ-2 patients (p = 0.82, p = 0.17, p = 0.34). During six years of follow-up, median pSWE and TE values did not differ significantly over time (TE: p = 0.27; pSWE: p = 0.05). CONCLUSION: Our data indicate that pSWE could be useful for non-invasive fibrosis assessment and follow-up in patients with HBeAg-negative chronic HBV infection.
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Authors | Christiana Graf, Antonia Mondorf, Viola Knop, Kai-Henrik Peiffer, Julia Dietz, Julia Friess, Heiner Wedemeyer, Peter Buggisch, Stefan Mauss, Thomas Berg, Michael Rausch, Martin Sprinzl, Hartwig Klinker, Holger Hinrichsen, Jean-Pierre Bronowicki, Sebastian Haag, Dietrich Hüppe, Thomas Lutz, Thierry Poynard, Stefan Zeuzem, Mireen Friedrich-Rust, Christoph Sarrazin, Johannes Vermehren |
Journal | Journal of clinical medicine
(J Clin Med)
Vol. 8
Issue 12
(Dec 02 2019)
ISSN: 2077-0383 [Print] Switzerland |
PMID | 31810183
(Publication Type: Journal Article)
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