Assessment of liver fibrosis in chronic hepatitis B patients under tenofovir treatment

Background and aim The FibroScan measures the hardness of the liver and the transmission velocity of shear waves, which may be used to determine the extent of hepatic fibrosis in chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV). In 2008, the FDA approved tenofovir disoproxil fumarate for HBV. We aimed to use aspartate aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio index (APRI), fibrosis 4 index (FIB4), and FibroScan at baseline, 6 months, and 1-year posttreatment to assess their clinical value in tracking disease regression in chronic hepatitis B patients using tenofovir (300 mg orally daily). Patients and methods The study was a prospective cohort study conducted on 90 patients with chronic hepatitis B under tenofovir treatment (300 mg/day orally). All patients underwent FibroScan evaluation and laboratory tests, and then APRI and FIB4 were calculated at baseline, after 6 months of treatment, and after 12 months of treatment. According to stages of liver fibrosis by FibroScan we divided the studied patients into three groups: F1 group (mild fibrosis), F2 group (significant fibrosis), and F3+F4 group (severe fibrosis/cirrhosis). Results There was significant progressive improvement in fibrosis grades after 6 months of treatment and after 1 year of treatment in comparison to baseline grades. Also, there was a highly significant decrease in the level of FIB4, APRI, and HBV DNA PCR after 6 months of treatment and after 1 year of treatment. Conclusions Tenofovir treatment led to progressive improvement in FibroScan grades and other noninvasive markers of liver fibrosis and viral load.