Evaluation of Hepatic Fibrosis by Fibroscan® in Infections Chronic HbeAg Negative

Abstract

Introduction: The Fibroscan® is a non-invasive test that assesses liver fibrosis by measuring the degree of liver elasticity. It occupies an important place in the evaluation of hepatic fibrosis in patients with chronic liver disease.The aim is to evaluate the interest of Fibroscan® in the evaluation of hepatic fibrosis in chronic HbeAg negative infections. Materials and methods: All patients with a chronic HbeAg negative infection from April 2019 to June 2022 were included. Chronic HbeAg negative infection is defined by: a normal clinical examination, a normal abdominal ultrasound, normality of transaminases at several times, AgHbs positive, AgHbe negative, and viral DNA less than 2000 IU/ml on quarterly monitoring over 1 year. The interpretation of the Fibroscan® results took into account 10 measurements validated by the device with the interquartile range (IQR) < 30% of the median and a success rate > 60%. Results: Out of a total of 753 Fibroscans® performed, 163 patients had a chronic HbeAg negative infection, i.e. 21.6%. The mean age of the patients was 49.6 ± 11.2. We note a female predominance of 52.1% with a sex ratio of 0.9. The median elasticity value was 5.6 Kpa (2.5 – 20 Kpa). Fibrosis was non-significant in 83.3% and fibrosis was significant in 16.6% (moderate fibrosis: 12%; severe: 1.3% and cirrhosis: 3.3%). There was a failure of the fibroscan in 13 patients (7.9%) with a BMI > 35 kg/m2 despite the XL probe. Conclusion: Fibroscan® showed the absence of significant fibrosis in the majority of patients with chronic HbeAg negative infection. It allowed the diagnosis of significant fibrosis and cirrhosis in 16.6% of cases. The fibroscan is an excellent non-invasive examination for the evaluation of fibrosis in chronic HbeAg negative infections.