Cost-effectiveness of enhanced liver fibrosis test to assess liver fibrosis in chronic hepatitis C virus and alcoholic liver disease patients.

AIM: To assess liver fibrosis (LF) in hepatitis C virus (HCV) and alcoholic liver disease (ALD), estimate health outcomes and costs of new noninvasive testing strategies.

METHODS

A Markov model was developed to simulate LF progression in HCV and ALD for a cohort of 40-year-old men with abnormal levels of transaminases. Three different testing alternatives were studied: a single liver biopsy; annual Enhanced liver fibrosis (ELF™) followed by liver stiffness measurement (LSM) imaging as a confirmation test if the ELF test is positive; and annual ELF test without LSM. The analysis was performed from the perspective of a university hospital in Spain. Clinical data were obtained from published literature. Costs were sourced from administrative databases of the hospital. Deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were performed.

RESULTS

In HCV patients, annual sequential ELF test/LSM and annual ELF test alone prevented respectively 12.9 and 13.3 liver fibrosis-related deaths per 100 persons tested, compared to biopsy. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were respectively €13400 and €11500 per quality-adjusted life year (QALY). In ALD, fibrosis-related deaths decreased by 11.7 and 22.1 per 100 persons tested respectively with sequential ELF test/LSM and annual ELF test alone. ICERs were €280 and €190 per QALY, respectively.

CONCLUSION

The use of the ELF test with or without a confirmation LSM are cost-effective options compared to a single liver biopsy for testing liver fibrosis in HCV and ALD patients in Spain.