• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.19-25
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• 2013

Purpose: Childhood obesity is associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and it has become one of the most common causes of childhood chronic liver diseases which significant as a cause of liver related mortality and morbidity in children in the United States. The development of simpler and easier clinical indices for medical practice is needed to identify advanced hepatic fibrosis in childhood NAFLD instead of invasive method like liver biopsy. FibroScan and aspartate aminotransferase (AST)-to-platelet ratio index (APRI) have been proposed as a simple and noninvasive predictor to evaluate hepatic fibrosis in several liver diseases. APRI could be a good alternative to detect pathologic change in childhood NAFLD. The purpose of this study is to validate the efficacy of APRI for assessing hepatic fibrosis in childhood NAFLD based on FibroScan. Methods: This study included 23 children with NAFLD who underwent FibroScan. Clinical, laboratory and radiological evaluation including APRI was performed. To confirm the result of this study, 6 patients received liver biopsy. Results: Factors associated with hepatic fibrosis (stiffness measurement >5.9 kPa Fibroscan) were triglyceride, AST, alanine aminotransferase, platelet count, APRI and collagen IV. In multivariate analysis, APRI were correlated with hepatic fibrosis (>5.9 kPa). In receiver operating characteristics curve, APRI of meaningful fibrosis (cutoff value, 0.4669; area under the receiver operating characteristics, 0.875) presented sensitivity of 94%, specificity of 66%, positive predictive value of 94%, and negative predictive value of 64%. Conclusion: APRI might be a noninvasive, simple, and readily available method for medical practice to predict hepatic fibrosis of childhood NAFLD.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.79-85
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• 2017

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the clinical and the instrument of convergence utility of transient elastography (FibroScan(R):electromagnetic wave) in diagnosing and treating liver ailments through a comparison and an analysis between liver function blood test and transient elastography (FibroScan(R)) in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection. Of all the patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection who visited clinic B in Daejeon City between July 1, 2015, and February 28, 2016, 75 who underwent a FibroScan(R) test were selected for this study. Their laboratory and liver function test results were compared for a correlation analysis before constructing an ROC (Receiver Operation Characteristic) curve. Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels were 0.572 and 0.502, respectively, and showed highest correlation with fibrosis score, with statistical significance (p<0.000). Gamma glutamyltranspeptidase, total bilirubin, and alkaline phosphatase levels also showed relatively significant correlations in this order of sequence, while -fetoprotein and total protein levels did not show any statistically significant values. Albumin (-0.449) and platelet levels (-0.373) showed negative correlations with each other and no correlation with fibrosis score (p < 0.000). As liver fibrosis worsened, the accuracy of the ROC curve increased. At the F4 stage, which is the cirrhotic stage, the largest area under the curve was observed. FibroScan(R) showed significant correlation with the ALT (serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase) and AST (serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase) levels in the liver function test, which is a routine test for patients with chronic liver ailments. This implies that fibrosis correlates with liver inflammation severity.