The aim of the study was to compare 4 non-invasive biochemical scores of liver fibrosis (age/PLT; AST/ALT; APRI and FORNS) with results of hepatic biopsies classified according to Batts-Ludwig scale. The study included a total of 99 patients: 44 (44.4%) women with mean +/- SD age of 42 +/- 11.9 years and 55 (55.6%) men (43 +/- 12.2) treated for chronic hepatitis C.
Results: Levels of several markers changed significantly after 3 months of treatment (with interferon alpha and ribavirin) comparing to values on admission to hospital: we observed statistically significant differences of ALT: 32.6 +/- 15.7 vs. 61.5 +/- 35.6 (U/l), p<0.001; AST: 34.1 +/- 11.1 vs. 48.2 +/- 26.5 (U/l), p<0.05 and total cholesterol concentration: 4.0 +/- 0.4 vs. 4.9 +/- 0.9 (mmol/l), p<0.01 in women; AST/ALT ratio in both men (0,8 +/- 0,3 vs. 0.69 +/- 0.25; p<0.05) and women (1.2 +/- 0.4 vs. 0.84 +/- 0.24; p<0.001) and age/PLT score: 0.4 +/- 0.3 vs. 0.28 +/- 0.12 (p<0.01) in men.
Conclusions: Non-invasive biochemical scores: age/PLT, APRI and FORNS showed acceptable compliance with liver morphological status characterized in Batts-Ludwig scale as we observed significant differences between F0-F1 and F3-F4 groups. Age/PLT, APRI and FORNS seems to be helpful in prediction of early stage of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C. After 3 months of standard antiviral therapy (interferon alpha and ribavirin) we did not observe statistically significant differences in values of FORNS and APRI scores. Simultaneously, we noticed significant decrease in activity of aminotransferases and AST/ALT ratio recognized by clinicians as standard markers of inflammatory and necrosis processes.