Hyaluronic Acid act as a Non - Invasive Marker for Diagnosis of Liver Fibrosis in the Patients of Chronic Hepatitis C.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the biochemical significance of Hyaluronic acid in liver fibrosis among chronic hepatitis C patients to eliminate repetitive liver biopsies. METHODOLOGY: Cross Sectional Comparative Analytical Study at FPGMI, Shaikh Zayed Hospital, Lahore from January 2017 to December 2017. This cross-sectional study, included patients of chronic hepatitis C (n = 250) along with controls (n =100). Serum hyaluronic acid assay (patients & controls) was performed using enzyme linked binding protein assay, using a capture molecule known as hyaluronic acid binding protein (HABP) along with quantitative Echelon (Echelon biosciences Inc. USA) used as reference standard. RESULTS: Total 350 participant both male and females participated for this study from these 350 samples, 100 normal samples were recruited as control group and 250 diagnosed cases of chronic hepatitis C patients were recruited as case study group. Serum Hyaluronic acid was significantly (P<0.001) elevated in patients (195.77 ±6.67) compared to controls (110.2 ±0.79) irrespective of gender involvement. CONCLUSION: The current findings showed significant involvement of HA in early prognosis of liver fibrosis and cirrhosis among chronic HCV patients that would probably useful to reduce repetitive liver biopsy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]