Korean J Hepatol.  2007 Jun;13(2):129-137.

Clinical Application of Non-invasive Diagnosis for Hepatic Fibrosis

• Cho SW
• Cheong JY

Abstract

Progressive hepatic fibrosis with development of cirrosis is a feature of chronic liver disease. Assessing fibrosis is important for predicting disease progression and patient management. Liver biopsy is the current gold standard for the diagnosis of liver fibrosis. However, liver biopsy is an invasive procedure. Alternative non-invasive methods have been developed. Serum markers are useful in predicting liver cirrhosis, but accuracy of serum markers is not satisfactory in the assessment of fibrosis. Newly developed transient elastography (Fibroscan) is a non-invasive method of measuring liver stiffness. Fibroscan has been reported to be superior in early detection of cirrhosis to serum markers. Factors influencing it's performance are not fully investigated. The evaluation of new tests should be continued to perform.

Keyword

Hepatic fibrosis; Diagnosis; Liver cirrhosis

MeSH Terms

Biological Markers/blood
Chronic Disease
Disease Progression
Elasticity Imaging Techniques/methods
Fibrosis
Humans
Hyaluronic Acid/analysis
Liver/*pathology
Liver Cirrhosis/*diagnosis/etiology