Liver stiffness measurement to platelet ratio index predicts the stage of liver fibrosis in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

AIM: Platelet count and liver stiffness measurement (LSM) using transient elastography could identify significant fibrosis in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We constructed a novel index combining LSM with platelet count for staging fibrosis in Japanese patients with NAFLD.
METHODS: We recruited 173 Japanese patients with liver biopsy-proven NAFLD. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves were calculated and compared with established parameters and scoring systems for staging liver fibrosis.
RESULTS: After excluding 10 patients in whom LSM failed, 163 patients with NAFLD were enrolled. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves of the LSM/platelet ratio (LPR) index for detecting fibrosis ≥stage 1, ≥stage 2, and ≥stage 3 were the greatest (0.835, 0.913, and 0.936, respectively) compared with those for various other parameters and established scoring systems, such as LSM, type IV collagen 7 s domain, platelet count, NAFIC score, fibrosis-4 index, NAFLD fibrosis score, aspartate aminotransferase/alanine aminotransferase ratio, and aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index. The optimal cut-off, positive predictive, and negative predictive values of the LPR index for detecting ≥stage 3 fibrosis were 0.60, 48.9%, and 99.2%, whereas those of LSM were 10.0 kPa, 35.0%, and 99.0%, respectively. The novel LPR index helps avoid biopsies in a larger percentage of patients with NAFLD compared with that LSM alone.
CONCLUSIONS: The LPR index was the best predictor for staging fibrosis in patients with NAFLD. It represents a simple and non-invasive alternative to liver biopsy in clinical practice.