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Can we identify liver fibrosis in HCV-infected patients without a liver biopsy?

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Abstract

The most relevant consequence of persistent infection with the hepatitis C virus is liver fibrosis, which will evolve into cirrhosis in a significant proportion of patients. Evaluation of liver damage is commonly assessed by a liver biopsy. However, there is an increasing interest to use noninvasive methods for the diagnosis of liver fibrosis. There have been several approaches aimed at identifying liver fibrosis. The simplest ones are based on routine laboratory tests and a few well-known markers of collagen production or degradation. Different combinations of these markers allow us to correctly identify a remarkable proportion of patients at both spectrums of the disease (mild and severe fibrosis). With a better knowledge on the pathophysiology of liver fibrosis and, therefore, with the incorporation of more specific markers involved in the different steps of the fibrogenic process, accurate noninvasive diagnosis of liver fibrosis will be available in the next few years.

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  1. Liver Unit, Hospital Clinic, Villarroel 170, 08036, Barcelona, Spain

    Xavier Forns MD & Ramón Bataller MD

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  1. Xavier Forns MD
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  2. Ramón Bataller MD
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Forns, X., Bataller, R. Can we identify liver fibrosis in HCV-infected patients without a liver biopsy?. Curr hepatitis rep 2, 145–151 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11901-003-0016-z

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