Does regression in treatment-induced liver fibrosis reflect noninvasive tests? Assessing treatment results of hepatitis B patients who took potent antiviral drugs for 5 years.

BACKGROUND: Chronic liver disease may be reversed through treatment, and it is crucial to have a definitive diagnosis of liver fibrosis for this treatment. Aims: In this study, we aimed to determine whether regression of liver fibrosis in naive patients undergoing strong antiviral therapy is reflected in noninvasive tests.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We systematically reviewed and monitored medical records of patients with chronic hepatitis B who underwent liver biopsy for patient qualification. We selected patients with a liver fibrosis score of two or more who had not previously received antiviral treatment. We used previously described formulas to compute the indirect indicators of fibrosis for the patients and noted the values of Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) to alanine aminotransferase (ALT) ratio (AAR), age-platelet index (API), fibrosis index-based 4 factor (FIB-4), AST-platelet ratio index (APRI), mean platelet volume (MPV) and platelet count (PLT).

RESULTS: We found a significant difference between the three measurements for APRI, AAR and FIB-4 scores and MPV and PLT distributions in patients who were administered entecavir and tenofovir (Friedman P < 0.05). In the post-hoc binary comparison for both entecavir and tenofovir, we found significant differences between the baseline measurements and the 3rd- and 5th-year measurements in terms of APRI, AAR, FIB-4, MPV, and PLT.

CONCLUSION: Liver biopsy is considered the gold standard for the treatment and follow-up of hepatitis B but may not be appropriate in all cases. Non-invasive tests may be effective in monitoring antiviral therapy. We demonstrated that non-invasive tests improved with antiviral therapy, which may be a reflection of treatment-regression in liver histopathology.