Diagnostic efficacy of FibroScan for liver inflammation in patients with chronic hepatitis B: a single-center study with 1185 liver biopsies as controls

BACKGROUND: Noninvasive diagnostic technologies that can dynamically monitor changes in liver inflammation are highly important for the management of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients and thus warrant further exploration. This study assessed the diagnostic efficacy of FibroScan for liver inflammation in CHB patients. METHODS: A total of 1185 patients were selected, and ultrasound-guided liver biopsy was performed within 1 month after the FibroScan test. The liver stiffness measurement (LSM), the reliability criteria (IQR/M) of LSM, the quality of liver biopsy (complete portal area, PA), and the liver inflammation grades were the main observation items of this study. With liver biopsy as the control, the diagnostic efficacy of FibroScan for liver inflammation in CHB patients was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. RESULTS: The grade of liver inflammation was positively correlated with the stage of fibrosis (rho = 0.829, P < 0.001). Different grades of inflammation will have significant rise in LSM values within the same fibrosis stage, and LSM values were positively correlated with liver inflammation grade and fibrosis stage, and the rho is 0.579 and 0.593 respectively (P < 0.001). Significant differences in the LSM of FibroScan were observed among different grades of liver inflammation (P < 0.0001). Liver biopsy (PA > 10) served as the control, and the cutoff point and the area under ROC curves (AUCs) of the LSMs for different inflammation grades were as follows: G2, 8.6 kPa, 0.775; G3 9.8 kPa, 0.818; and G4, 11.0 kPa; 0.832. With LSM cutoff values of 8.6 kPa, 9.8 kPa and 11.0 kPa, FibroScan showed certain diagnostic value for CHB patients with G2, G3 and G4 liver inflammation, especially those with G4 inflammation. CONCLUSIONS: The grade of liver inflammation was positively correlated with the stage of fibrosis, different grades of inflammation will have significant rise in LSM values within the same fibrosis stage. In addition to liver fibrosis, FibroScan could evaluate liver inflammation in CHB patients in a noninvasive manner. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12876-022-02108-0.