SERUM MARKERS FOR ASSESSING LIVER FIBROSIS IN EGYPTIAN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC HEPATITIS B AND C CO-INFECTION VERSUS CHRONIC HEPATITIS C

Chronic hepatitis B and C can progress to hepatic fibrosis and cirrhosis. The stage of liver fibrosis is critical for decision of treatment and prediction of outcomes, as life threatening complications highly develop in cirrhotic patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of non-invasive serum markers in the assessment of liver fibrosis in patients with combined chronic hepatitis B and C versus those with chronic hepatitis C. This study included 2 groups; G1: combined chronic hepatitis B & C, which included 71 patients and G2: chronic hepatitis C, which included 70 patients. Liver biopsy results from both groups were recorded. Three validated blood indices Fibro Q, Fibro alpha, and Biotechnology Research Center (BRC) were tested for optimal cut off values for assessing liver fibrosis in both groups. The results showed that the area under receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROC) for Fibro Q in differentiating significant fibrosis (>F2) from non-significant fibrosis (≤F2) was 0.79 (95% CI: 0.60-0.89) in the first group and 0.85(95% CI: 0.71-0.98) in the second group. AUROC for BRC was 0.76 (95% CI: 0.63-0.89) in the first group and 0.75 (CI: 0.60-0.89) in the second group. Fibro alpha performed less in both groups based on AUROC 0.69 and 0.68 in the first and second group respectively.