Total bile acid-to-cholesterol ratio as a novel noninvasive marker for significant liver fibrosis and cirrhosis in patients with non-cholestatic chronic hepatitis B virus infection

Although serum bile acids and total cholesterol (TC) are closely related to liver cirrhosis, the potential diagnostic value of total bile acid-to-cholesterol ratio (TBA/TC) for liver fibrosis is unclear. The present study aimed to evaluate the value of TBA/TC in the diagnosis of cirrhosis and the relationship between TBA/TC and significant liver fibrosis in chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infected patients without cholestasis. 667 patients with alkaline phosphatase (ALP) ≤ 1.5 upper limit of normal (ULN) and gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) ≤ 3 ULN were rigorously included in this cross-sectional study. Liver biopsy was performed in 32 patients and METAVIR scoring system was used to evaluate liver fibrosis stage. Liver ultrasound elastography was performed in 138 patients, significant fibrosis was defined as fibrosis ≥ F2. Multiple logistic regression as well as receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves analyses were performed. Compared to patients with non-cirrhosis, TBA and TBA/TC were significantly higher in cirrhosis while TC was significantly lower (all P 
Source: Medicine - Category: Internal Medicine Tags: Research Article: Observational Study Source Type: research