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Dr Manuel Romero-Gómez and colleagues from Spain evaluated an image processing method for assessing liver fibrosis in conventional computed tomography scans in patients with chronic Hepatitis C.
The team assessed 2 cohorts of 141 patients with chronic Hepatitis C using digitized conventional helical computed tomography.
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| The receiver operating characteristics curve to diagnose significant fibrosis was 0.83 |
| Hepatology |
Weighted computed tomography mean fibrosis was calculated as a nonlinear weighted mean F-score for each sample.
Fibrosis was defined according to Scheuer on the F0 to F4 scale by 2 pathologists blinded to the data.
Fibrosis according to Fibro-computed tomography correlated with histology-determined fibrosis, and with increasing F-stage.
The team found that the receiver operating characteristics curve to diagnose significant fibrosis was 0.83.
The receiver operating characteristics curve to diagnose advanced fibrosis, was 0.86.
The correlation between Fibro-computed tomography and fibrosis was higher in patients with homogeneous distribution of fibrosis than in patients with heterogeneous distribution.
Dr Romero-Gómez's team concluded, "Optical digital analysis of computed tomography images of the liver is effective in determining the stage and distribution of liver fibrosis in chronic Hepatitis C."
"In patients with homogeneous fibrosis distribution, the correlation between Fibro-computed tomography and histology was better than in patients with heterogeneous distribution."
"Fibro-computed tomography is a simple to use, readily available, and useful method for the diagnosis of fibrosis in patients with chronic Hepatitis C."
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