Abstract: Objective The aim of this study was to explore the evaluation of liver fibrosis by liver stiffness measurement (LSM) revealed by sound touch elastography (STE) and sound touch quantify (STQ) in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). Methods 126 patients with CHB were enrolled in our hospital between January 2020 and December 2022, and all underwent routine liver biopsy. The non-significant liver fibrosis (NSLF) was defined as liver fibrosis at stages F0 and F1, and the significant liver fibrosis (SLF) was defined as liver fibrosis at stages F2, F3 and F4. The LSM was detected by STE and STQ. The blood routine and serum biochemical parameters were routinely obtained, and the fibrosis index based on the four factors (FIB-4) and aspartate aminotransferase /platelet ratio index (APRI) were calculated. The influencing factors of liver fibrosis severity were analyzed by multivariate Logistic regression analysis, and the diagnostic efficacy for the severity of liver fibrosis was evaluated by the area under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC). Results Out of the 126 patients with CHB, the liver histopathological examination showed liver fibrosis at stage F0 in 7 cases, F1 in 38 cases, F2 in 42 cases, F3 in 34 cases and F4 in 5 cases, e.g., the NSLF in 45 cases and SLF in 81 cases; the LSM_STE, LSM_STQ, FIB-4 and APRI in patients with SLF were (13.6±3.4)kPa,(16.8±4.5)kPa, (2.0±0.5) and (1.1±0.3), all significantly greater than [(9.2±2.3) kPa, (10.7±3.1)kPa, (1.4±0.3) and (0.7±0.2), respectively, P＜0.05] in patients with NSLF; the multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that the LSM_STE, LSM_STQ, FIB-4 and APRI were all the independent risk factors impacting the existence of SLF in patients with CHB (P＜0.05); the ROC analysis demonstrated that the cut-off-value, the AUCs, the sensitivity (Se) and specificity(Sp) by LSM_STE and LSM_STQ in predicting the occurrence of SLF in patients with CHB were 11.6 kPa, 0.867, 76.5% and 86.7%, and 14.8 kPa, 0.856, 70.4% and 86.7%, all much superior to 1.8, 0.753, 60.5% and 80.0% (P＜0.05) by FIB-4 or 1.0, 0.736, 59.3% and 77.8% (P＜0.05) by APRI. Conclusion The detection of SLM obtained by STE and STQ might help evaluate the severity of liver fibrosis in patients with CHB, and warrants further clinical investigation.

Key words: Hepatitis B, Liver fibrosis, Liver stiffness measurement, Sound touch elastography, Sound touch quantify, Diagnosis