Doppler Ultrasound of Hepatic Blood Flow for Noninvasive Evaluation of Liver Fibrosis Compared with Liver Biopsy and Transient Elastography

Background Accurate quantification of liver fibrosis is essential for therapeutic decision-making and follow-up of chronic liver diseases. Aims To optimize the quality of non-invasive assessment of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatopathy we compared Doppler ultrasound with liver histology and transient elastography (TE). Methods In this prospective observational study, we performed Doppler ultrasound of hepatic blood vessels as well as TE in 125 patients who underwent liver biopsy for diagnostic work-up of hepatopathy. Hepatic venous flow was evaluated by determining resistance index (HVRI) of the right hepatic vein. Doppler and TE results were compared with histological staging, grading and degree of steatosis obtained by liver biopsy. Results HVRI showed a high reliability in predicting fibrosis stage FII or higher (AUROC 93.7 %, HVRI