Platelet count as a screening tool for compensated cirrhosis in chronic viral hepatitis
Pallavi Surana, Julian Hercun, Varun Takyar, David E. Kleiner, Theo Heller, Christopher Koh
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Simple tools for clinicians to identify cirrhosis in patients with chronic viral hepatitis are medically necessary for treatment initiation, hepatocellular cancer screening and additional medical management. AIM: To determine whether platelets or other laboratory markers can be used as a simple method to identify the development of cirrhosis. METHODS: Clinical, biochemical and histologic laboratory data from treatment naive chronic viral hepatitis B (HBV), C (HCV), and D (HDV) patients at the NIH Clinical Center from 1985-2019 were collected and subjects were randomly divided into training and validation cohorts. Laboratory markers were tested for their ability to identify cirrhosis (Ishak ≥ 5) using receiver operating characteristic curves and an optimal cut-off was calculated within the training cohort. The final cut-off was tested within the validation cohort. RESULTS: = 312) [AUROC = 0.85 (0.76-0.94)]. CONCLUSION: The use of platelet counts should be considered to identify cirrhosis and ensure optimal care and management of patients with chronic viral hepatitis.