# A Comparative Study of Novel Fibrosis Index and Other Non-invasive Serum Indices for Predicting Fibrosis in Patients of Chronic Liver Disease

## TL;DR

This study compares a new blood test, the Novel Fibrosis Index, with existing tests to predict liver fibrosis stages in patients with chronic liver disease.

## Contribution

The study introduces and evaluates the Novel Fibrosis Index as a new non-invasive tool for predicting liver fibrosis stages.

## Key findings

- The Novel Fibrosis Index (NFI) showed the highest accuracy in predicting liver fibrosis stages compared to other indices.
- NFI had a sensitivity of 75.8% and specificity of 81.8% for predicting the most severe fibrosis stage (F4).
- NFI outperformed other indices like APRI, FIB-4, and API in predicting fibrosis stages.

## Abstract

Introduction

Chronic liver disease progression leads to liver fibrosis/cirrhosis. Transient Elastography is used for staging liver fibrosis but ascites, obesity, and operator experience limit its applicability. In this study, we compared various non-invasive serum indices in predicting fibrosis in chronic liver disease patients.

Materials and methods

A total of 142 cases of confirmed Chronic Liver Disease were included. Quantitative determination of liver stiffness by Transient Elastography and relevant blood investigations was done. We compared the liver stiffness measurement by Transient Elastography and fibrosis indices, i.e., Aspartate Transaminase (AST) to Alanine Transaminase (ALT) Ratio (AAR), AST to Platelet Ratio Index (APRI), Fibrosis Index (FI), Fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) Index, Age-Platelet Index (API), Pohl score, and Fibrosis Cirrhosis Index (FCI) with Novel Fibrosis Index (NFI), to predict liver fibrosis stages.

Results

The optimum cutoff of NFI for the F4 stage was ≥ 6670 with a sensitivity of 75.8% and specificity of 81.8%, for the F3 stage was ≥ 2112 with a sensitivity of 63.6% and specificity of 72.7%, and for the F2 stage was ≥ 1334 with a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 56.3%. The NFI had the maximum area under the curve compared to other indices in predicting fibrosis stages.

Conclusion

The Novel Fibrosis Index was the best in predicting fibrosis stages in Chronic Liver Disease patients, with good performance in predicting the F4 stage.