Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
3311484 | Hepatology Research | 2006 | 7 Pages |
Abstract
Liver biopsy is still recommended in most patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC). Due to its limitations and risks, the use of non-invasive blood biomarkers has been suggested for predicting liver cirrhosis in these patients. Here, we analyzed a panel of routine blood biochemical and hematological markers of 455 Egyptians (272 males and 183 females aged 26-67 years; mean age of 47.25 years) with clinically confirmed CHC. The multivariate discriminant analysis (MDA) selected a function based on absolute values of the four routine biomarkers; score = [albumin (g/L) Ã 0.3 + platelet count (109/L) Ã 0.05] â [alkaline phosphatase (IU/L) Ã 0.014 + AST/ALT ratio Ã 6 + 14]. The MDA function correctly classified 98% of the cirrhotic patients at a discriminant cut-off score = 0 (i.e. less than 0 indicated liver cirrhosis and greater than 0 indicated CHC without cirrhosis) with high degrees of specificity (97%), positive predictive value (99%) and negative predictive value (92%). The MDA of the absolute values of a combination of four routine tests can efficiently indicate liver cirrhosis in CHC patients. Based on individual patient MDA score value, each patient can be simply and efficiently classified into a cirrhotic or a non-cirrhotic liver patient.
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Authors
Abdelfattah M. Attallah, Gamal E. Shiha, Mohamed M. Omran, Khaled R. Zalata,