Li Q. et al published a study assessing the accuracy and cut-off values of FibroScan for diagnosing liver fibrosis and cirrhosis in patients with concomitant chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

The study included 116 patients with concomitant CHB and NAFLD. The participants were subjected to a FibroScan test and liver biopsy.

Established Liver fibrosis was staged according to the METAVIR scoring system and was compared with the Calculations of the areas under receiver-operating characteristic curves (AUROC). 

The AUROCs for FibroScan, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase to platelet ratio (GPR), aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index (APRI), fibrosis index based on 4 factors (FIB-4), and NAFLD Fibrosis Score (NFS) were reported for the diagnosis of significant liver fibrosis, severe liver fibrosis and cirrhosis. 

The AUROC of FibroScan was 0.87 for the diagnosis of significant liver fibrosis, 0.89 for severe liver fibrosis, and 0.94 for cirrhosis, which suggested that FibroScan enabled precise evaluation of liver fibrosis in patients with coexisting CHB and NAFLD.

The cutoff values of FibroScan for ruling in disease were reported to be: 10.8 kPa for significant liver fibrosis, and 17.8 kPa for cirrhosis, respectively.

Thus they concluded that FibroScan provides high value for the diagnosis of liver fibrosis and cirrhosis in patients with concomitant CHB and NAFLD and so can be used in routine practice in such patients.

Source: Li, Q, Huang, C, Xu, W, Hu, Q, Chen, L. Accuracy of FibroScan in analysis of liver fibrosis in patients with concomitant chronic Hepatitis B and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, Medicine, 2020;99(23): p e20616 doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000020616