An ultrasound scoring system for the diagnosis of liver fibrosis and cirrhosis

Objective To establish noninvasive semiquantitative ultrasonic criteria for evaluating liver fibrosis and differentiating cirrhosis from chronic hepatitis Methods A total of 66 HBsAg positive patients (chronic hepatitis 42 patients, cirrhosis 24) were included Ultrasonography was performed 24 hours before liver biopsy A fibrotic scoring system was used to evaluate the ultrasound findings in contrast with fibrotic stages in each patient Results The total liver fibrotic scores had a significantly positive correlation with the histological liver fibrotic stage (r=0 952, P <0 001); the stage of histological liver fibrosis (Y) was calculated by the total fibrotic scores (X) according to the experiential formula: Y=X/2-2; receiver operating curves (ROC) showed that the best cut off values for differentiating cirrhosis from chronic hepatitis was 10 with a sensitivity of 87 8% and a specificity of 97 6% Conclusions The total fibrotic scores of ultrasonic dimentional image provide a semiquantitative marker to evaluate liver fibrosis and differentiate cirrhosis from chronic hepatitis