HA LT Hepascore

Hyaluronic Acid LT enables automation of Hepascore

Dr. J. Guéchot from the hospital St. Antoine in Paris and the French Fibrostar study group published for the first time results of the fully automated Hepascore using HA LT, α2-macroglobulin, GGT and total Bilirubin on an Olympus AU640 analyser.

This study used samples from 512 patients with chronic hepatitis C out of the Fibrostar study and a single instrument, Fibrostar is a prospective multicenter study that compares different serum markers and scores and transient elastography (Fibroscan^®) in HCV patients throughout France. Metavir fibrosis stages were assessed by liver biopsies as gold standard.

The automated Hepascore with HA LT did not show significant differences compared to the former method, for which tests are performed on different measurement systems. However the improved precision of the turbidimetric HA LT assay was confirmed. The automated Hepascore resulted in AUROC values of >0,8 for significant fibrosis (F2-F4), severe fibrosis (F3-F4) and cirrhosis (F4). A Hepascore value of <0,75 was able to exclude cirrhosis with a sensitivity of 86% and a negative predictive value of 97%.

The authors conclude that the automated Hepascore, which can be performed using one single serum sample and one clinical chemistry analyser, accurately predicts liver fibrosis in patients with chronic HCV. Thus it might be largely used in assessing liver fibrosis as an alternative to liver biopsy analysis.

Click here for the abstract.

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