Retrospective evaluation of serum markers APRI and AST/ALT for assessing liver fibrosis and cirrhosis in chronic hepatitis B and C patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE: Aspartate aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio index (APRI), aspartate aminotransferase-to-alanine aminotransferase (AST/ALT) ratio, platelet count, AST, albumin, bilirubin and alkaline phosphatase were retrospectively evaluated for the prediction of advanced liver fibrosis and cirrhosis in patients with resectable hepatocellular carcinoma in this study. PATIENTS: In total, the 97 selected patients consisted of 9 (9.3%) patients with non-B, non-C chronic hepatitis, 48 (49.5%) patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and 40 (41.2%) patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC).
RESULTS: The APRI, but not AST/ALT or other serum markers, showed a significant correlation with advanced liver fibrosis and cirrhosis (p<0.05). The area under receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROC) for predicting advanced fibrosis was 0.69 in CHB patients and 0.87 in CHC patients, whereas AUROC for predicting cirrhosis was 0.75 in CHB patients and 0.84 in CHC patients. In addition, the sensitivity and specificity of APRI were greater than 80% for predicting advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis in the CHC patients.
CONCLUSION: APRI is a simple and non-invasive biochemical marker of liver fibrosis and cirrhosis, particularly in CHC patients. APRI potentially could be used to decrease the number of liver biopsies.