| 2Department of Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Menoufia, Egypt |
| Background and aim: Non- invasive parameters of liver fibrosis are being widely incorporated and adopted in clinical practice, of them, 2 ratios APRI and FIB-4 were proposed and applied. The gamma-glutamyl transferase -to- platelet ratio (GPR) was developed and investigated as available test that is useful in predicting liver fibrosis stages in chronic HBV patients. We aimed to estimate the diagnostic performance of GPR compared to APRI in assessing different fibrosis stages estimated by ultrasound based Transient Elastography in chronic HCV Egyptian patients.
Methods: This prospective study was conducted on 90 treatment-naive chronic HCV patients. Fibrosis stages were assessed by Transient Elastography. Serum aspartate transferase, alanine transferase, gamma-glutamyl transferase and platelets were estimated. APRI and GPR formulas were calculated.
Results: GPR was significantly different with fibrosis stage (p value <0.001) in addition, higher GPR values associated with increasing fibrosis stage. The mean ± SD for GPR, APRI were 0.4 ± 0.31 and 0.38 ± 0.34 respectively. The AUROC of the GPR and APRI in predicting significant fibrosis (>F3) from non-significant fibrosis (< F3) was significant with GPR AUC was 0.97 while APRI AUC was 0.86. GPR at cutoff point 0.31 has sensitivity 92 %, specificity 88%, PPV 86 % and NPV 91 %. While, APRI at cutoff 0.26 has sensitivity 81 % and specificity 78 %.
Conclusion: The GPR represents a simple, non-invasive, inexpensive model for assessment of liver fibrosis. The GPR is a more accurate model than APRI to stage liver fibrosis in chronic HCV patients in Egypt. |