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Assessment of liver histology is pivotal in prognostication and decision-making regarding therapeutic intervention in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV). Being an invasive procedure, the liver biopsy is associated with complications, and a non-invasive alternative would be preferable.

Material and methods

Sera samples from 179 patients with chronic HCV infection collected at the time of liver biopsy were analyzed using routinely available biochemical markers of liver disease, and liver histology was evaluated using the Ishak protocol. The relationship between the serum biochemical markers and cirrhosis (Ishak stage ≥ 5) as well as bridging fibrosis (Ishak stage ≥ 3) was examined.

Results

Conclusions

A strong association was found in the multivariate logistic regression analysis between fibrosis stage and aspartate aminotransferase (AST), platelet count and prothrombin-INR (international …