Autores: Portincasa Piero, Grattagliano Ignazio
de Oliveira AC, et al. Utility and limitations of APRI and FIB4 to predict staging in a cohort of non selected outpatients with hepatitis C de Oliveira AC, et al. in this issue of Annals of Hepatology focus on the usefulness of AST-to-platelet ratio index (APRI) and Fibrosis-4(FIB4) values as predictive algorithms in patients with C hepatitis. Chronic hepatitis C virus infection (CHC) is currently the leading cause of liver cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma and represents an of indication for liver transplantation. CHC therefore represents a major burden of care worldwide. Due to elevated costs of new antiviral agents, a careful stadiation of liver injury is required in the treatment decision making process, which is still mainly based on liver histology fron biopsy specimens during an invasive procedure which carries some risks and sampling errors and is not well accepted by patients. Therefore, the identification of noninvasive markers is being actively investigated. At this aim, WHO suggests the use of simple algorithms, i.e. APRI and FIB4 (AST, ALT, platelet count, and patient age) score for staging CHC, in view of their convenience, easy access, and validated accuracy in developing countries. Fibrotest®, and transient elastography, although perform well, are costly techniques not yet diffused in low- and middle-income countries.
2016-06-24 | 153 visitas | Evalua este artículo 0 valoraciones
Vol. 15 Núm.3. Mayo-Junio 2016 Pags. 300-302 Ann Hepatol 2016; 15(3)