Is laparoscopy an advantage in the diagnosis of cirrhosis in chronic hepatitis C virus infection?

AIM: To evaluate the potential of laparoscopy in the diagnosis of cirrhosis and outcome of interferon treatment in HCV-infected patients. METHODS: In this retrospective study, diagnostic laparoscopy with laparoscopic liver biopsy was performed in 72 consecutive patients with chronic HCV infection. The presence or absence of cirrhosis was analyzed macroscopically by laparoscopy and microscopically by liver biopsy specimens. Clinical and laboratory data and outcome of interferon-alfa treatment were compared between cirrhotic and noncirrhotic patients. RESULTS: Laparoscopically, cirrhosis was seen in 29.2% (21/72) and non-cirrhosis in 70.8% (51/72) of patients. Cirrhotic patients were significantly older with a significant longer duration of HCV infection than noncirrhotic patients. Laboratory parameters (AST, y-GT, y-globulin fraction) were measured significantly higher as well as significantly lower (prothrombin index, platelet count) in cirrhotic patients than in non-cirrhotic patients. Histologically, cirrhosis was confirmed in 11.1% (8/72) and non cirrhosis in 88.9% (64/72). Patients with macroscopically confirmed cirrhosis (n = 21) showed histologically cirrhosis in 38.1% (8/21) and histologically non-cirrhosis in 61.9% (13/21). In contrast, patients with macroscopically non-cirrhosis (n = 51) showed histologically non cirrhosis in all cases (51/51). Thirty-nine of 72 patients were treated with interferon-alfa, resulting in 35.9% (14/39) patients with sustained response and 64.1% (25/39) with non response. Non-responders showed significantly more macroscopically cirrhosis than sustained responders. In contrast, there were no significant histological differences between non-responders and sustained responders. CONCLUSION: Diagnostic laparoscopy is more accurate than liver biopsy in recognizing cirrhosis in patients with chronic HCV infection. Liver biopsy is the best way to assess inflammatory grade and fibrotic stage. The invasive marker for staging, prognosis and management, and treatment outcome of chronic HCV-infected patients need further research and clinical trials. Laparoscopy should be performed for recognition of cirrhosis if this parameter is found to be of prognostic and therapeutic relevance in patients with chronic HCV infection.