Transient elastography (TE) is a noninvasive and well validated method for measurement of liver stiffness. The aim of this study was to use TE to evaluate whether patients with sustained virological response (SVR) have lower liver stiffness than patients with non-SVR after treatment for chronic hepatitis C (CHC).
Patients with CHC, who had undergone liver biopsy before treatment with pegylated interferon and ribavirin, were included from four clinical centres in Denmark. All patients were examined with TE and had a blood test taken for hepatitis C virus-virus detection and analysis of alanine aminotransferase, platelet counts and hyaluronic acid.
For 110 (92%) of the 120 patients included, it was possible to obtain a successful measurement of liver stiffness. Of these, 71 (64.5%) had achieved SVR. Median follow-up time was 47 months. Patients with pretreatment minimal fibrosis (F0/F1) in their liver biopsy had median liver stiffness of 5.3 kPa for SVR versus 6.1 kPa for non-SVR (P=0.56). Patients with pretreatment moderate fibrosis (F2/F3) had median liver stiffness of 5.4 kPa for SVR versus 9.4 kPa for non-SVR (P