The results are less certain in patients with a thick chest wall, hepatic congestion of cardiac origin and acute exacerbations of hepatitis. However, it has improved the ability to define the extent of fibrosis without a LB, particularly when combined with other noninvasive markers.
Biochemical scores are calculated based on panels of multiple serum markers associated with hepatic fibrosis. Performance of these measures appears similar in both HCV monoinfected and HIV-HCV co-infected patients.
Two tests have been specifically designed for HIV-HCV coinfection: SHASTA index (includes hyaluronic acid, AST and albumin) and FIB-4 (ALT and AST level, platelet count and age).
FibroTest