OBJECTIVETo evaluate the correlation of liver hardness testing

RESULTSobtained by FibroTouch and FibroScan and the liver pathological stage.

METHODSSeventy-five patients with chronic hepatitis B who presented to our clinic between January 2011 and April 2013 were examined with FibroTouch and FibroScan to evaluate the degree of liver fibrosis. Forty-six of those patients also underwent liver biopsy examination.

THE RESULTSfrom technology-based testing and histopathological evaluation of the biopsy were compared by statistical analysis to determine the consistency of FibroTouch and FibroScan in regard to histological stage.

RESULTSAnalysis by paired t-test showed that the

RESULTSfrom FibroTouch and FibroScan were not significantly different (t = -0.17, P =0.8616), and the correlation coefficient from Pearson's correlation analysis was 0.9949 (P less than 0.05), suggesting that the two technologies'

RESULTSare correlated. Based on the histopathology

RESULTSfor liver fibrosis stage, the FibroTouch diagnosis of liver fibrosis more than or equal to S 1 had a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) area under the curve (AUC) of 0.889, diagnosis of liver fibrosis more than or equal to S2 had a ROC AUC of 0.941, diagnosis of liver fibrosis more than or equal to S3 had a ROC AUC of 0.908, and diagnosis of liver fibrosis more than or equal to S4 had a ROC AUC of 0.911.

CONCLUSIONCompared to FibroScan, FibroTouch has a better ability for detecting liver fibrosis and a better consistency with liver pathological stage determined by histopathological analysis.