Fibrosis markers in hepatitis C

Abstract

Significant morbidity and mortality due to chronic hepatitis C infection have led to efforts to identify patients at risk of progressive disease. Current clinical practice relies on liver biopsy as the gold standard for assessing the severity of chronic hepatitis C, but liver biopsy is associated with sampling error and exposes patients to procedural risks and additional health care expenses. Several surrogate markers of fibrosis have now been developed, although they have been validated only in select patient populations and do not accurately differentiate between intermediate stages of fibrosis. Additional studies to determine the clinical utility of noninvasive markers are in progress.