Prediction of Hepatic Fibrosis in Patients With Chronic Hepatitis C by Biochemical and Duplex Doppler Indices

March 5, 2008 updated by: National Taiwan University Hospital
The purpose of our prospective study was to evaluate the value of Doppler parameters and compare the diagnostic accuracy of Doppler parameters with various biochemical indices in predicting significant hepatic fibrosis (≥ F2) and cirrhosis (F4) in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Detailed Description

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a global health problem, affecting about 3% of the world's population. Compared to patients with mild hepatic fibrosis, those with significant fibrosis are at risk of developing cirrhosis over a 10- to 20-year period. This fact suggests the need of early antiviral therapy in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients to prevent the development of cirrhosis and associated complications. For patients having cirrhosis, surveillance endoscopy and ultrasound for gastroesophageal varices and hepatocellular carcinoma are needed to minimize morbidity and mortality ). Furthermore, reduced treatment response and tolerability to antiviral therapy may be encountered in cirrhotic patients. An accurate assessment of hepatic fibrosis stage is therefore important for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.

Liver biopsy has been recognized as the gold standard for assessing the grade of necroinflammation and stage of fibrosis. However, it is costly, and harbors risk of complications, including 20% of patient discomfort, 0.1-3% of significant morbidity, and 0.02-0.24% of mortality. In addition, sampling error due to the non-uniform distribution of the parenchymal damage, as well as intra- and inter-observer variability is often encountered. A noninvasive tool to evaluate liver disease activity or fibrosis stage would be helpful, particularly in monitoring CHC patients over time.

Noninvasive methods to evaluate the hepatic histology in HCV-infected patients include symptoms and signs, routine laboratory tests, serum markers of fibrosis and inflammation, quantitative tests of liver function, and radiological imaging. Previous studies have assessed the usefulness of noninvasive tests in predicting hepatic fibrosis. However, none of them showed satisfactory results, either due to lack of accuracy, accessibility, reproducibility or being expensive.

Duplex Doppler ultrasonography (DDU), which is readily available and non-invasive, has been used for the assessment of splanchnic vascular hemodynamics in patients with chronic liver disease. Portal vein velocity (PVV) has been shown to be correlated with significant fibrosis or cirrhosis. Hepatic artery resistive index (HARI) and pulsatility index (HAPI) are associated with portal vein resistance and hepatic vein-portal vein pressure gradient (HPVG). Splenic artery resistive index (SARI) and pulsatility index (SAPI) are associated with portal vein resistance, cirrhosis and grade of esophageal varices (EV). Previous studies to evaluate the value of DDU in predicting liver histology are controversial, probably due to small patient number, diverse grading of liver histology, and large missing data.

Thus, the purpose of our prospective study was to evaluate the value of Doppler parameters and compare the diagnostic accuracy of Doppler parameters with various biochemical indices in predicting significant hepatic fibrosis (≥ F2) and cirrhosis (F4) in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

503

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Taiwan
      • Taipei, Taiwan, 100
        • National Taiwan University Hospital

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Chronic hepatitis C patients with abnormal ALT levels (> 2X ULN) with percutaneous liver biopsy

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age older than 18 years
  • Positive anti-HCV and HCV RNA for more than 6 months
  • Alanine aminotransferase level more than twice the upper limit of normal (ULN)

Exclusion Criteria:

  • HBV and HCV co-infection
  • HIV and HCV co-infection
  • Heavy alcohol use (> 50 gram/day)
  • Autoimmune liver diseases
  • Metabolic liver diseases
  • Presence of hepatocellular carcinoma

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

National Taiwan University Hospital

Investigators

  • Study Director: Chen-Hua Liu, MD, Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan Universitys Hospital

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

January 1, 2003

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2006

Study Completion (Actual)

January 1, 2007

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 25, 2007

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 25, 2007

First Posted (Estimate)

April 27, 2007

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

March 6, 2008

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 5, 2008

Last Verified

March 1, 2008

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 200612012R

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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