Role of microbubble ultrasound contrast agents in the non-invasive assessment of chronic hepatitis C-related liver disease

Table 1 Commonly available serological markers for assessing liver injury[8]

Group	Marker/panel	Comments
1	Prothrombin index	Highest diagnostic accuracy (cirrhosis) 86%
1	PGAA	Diagnostic accuracy 80%
1	AST/ALT ratio	Increase strongly correlated with decrease in hepatic function AST/ALT > 1 can diagnose cirrhosis with sensitivity of 77.8% and specificity 96.9%, but misclassified 7% as having cirrhosis and failed to diagnose 11%
1	FibroTest	Sensitivity 75%, specificity 85%
1	APRI	Predicts fibrosis in 51% patients Predicts cirrhosis in 81% patients
2	Hyaluronic acid (HA)	Only group 2 marker to show encouraging results, with a positive predictive value similar to Child-Pugh