2019 Volume 68 Issue 1 Pages 68-75
It is clinically very important to diagnose the progression of hepatic fibrosis in hepatitis C patients. In recent years, it has become possible to evaluate liver fibrosis noninvasively by quantifying liver stiffness using measurements of shear wave velocity. The performance of ultrasonic inspection degrades with increasing obesity. However, the effect of obesity on the Vs measurement has not yet been thoroughly demonstrated. It is hoped that we can clarify the effect of obesity on the Vs measurement in this study. Patients with chronic hepatitis C were divided into the obese group and the non-obese group, and their Vs values, platelet counts, type IV collagen 7s, hyaluronic acid levels, APRIs, and FIB4 indices for each fibrosis stage were compared. It was demonstrated that the Vs values were higher in obese hepatic C patients. However, there were no significant differences in the indicators of liver fibrosis among all hepatic fibrillation stages. It is important to carefully evaluate liver stiffness not only on the basis of measurements of Vs values, but also by taking other indicators of liver fibrosis into account.
