Comparison between Fibroscan and Serum Taurine for Early Diagnosis of Liver Fibrosis in Egyptian Patients Infected with HCV Ibrahim El Agouza¹, Rabab Fouad², Ramadan Ahmed³, Mohmmed El-Sayed² and Amany Menshawy¹ * ¹Faculty of Science, Zoology Department, Cairo University, Egypt ²Endemic Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt ³Hepatology Department, Ahmed Maher Teaching Hospital, Cairo, Egypt * Corresponding author: Amany Menshawy, Faculty of Science, Zoology Department, Cairo University, Egypt, Tel: 01120070523; E-mail: Amany.Menshawy@gmail.com Received date: May 22, 2017; Accepted date: May 27, 2017; Published date: June 02, 2017 Copyright: © 2017 Agouza IE, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract Aim: The aim is to evaluate the role of measuring serum taurine level as an early biomarker for detection and staging of hepatic fibrosis in comparison to Fibroscan. Patients and methods: 70 patients who are positive HCV are classified into five groups according to the scoring of Fibroscan. 10 healthy subjects were also enrolled as control group. Full clinical examination and complete biochemical analysis in addition to fibroscan and serum taurine as new marker are performed for all the selected patients and volunteers. Results: Results showed non-significant changes in the most Analytical data between the five groups of patients and control group, but a significant Increment in the serum level of ALT and AST in F4 Stage is noticed and marked decrease in platelets also found in F4. The most interesting point recorded is that Serum taurine levels were exhibited a value markedly lower than that recorded in control group and its decline was related to the severity of the diseases. Conclusion: It is suggested that the assessment of taurine level in sera of all hepatic patients beside fibroscan are of great value in the early diagnosis of any fibrotic changes in liver. Keywords: Hepatic elastography; Hepatitis C virus; Liver biopsy; Liver fbrosis; Serum taurine level Introduction Hepatitis C virus (HCV) in Egypt has the largest epidemic of the world with a percentage of 15-20%, which is ten times greater than any other country [1-6]. Te prevalence of HCV is highest in children and young adults who received parenteral anti-schistosomiasis treatment in the 1960s-1980s [7]. Egypt has the highest number of patients with genotype 4 HCV more than 90% of infected patients [8]. Te vast majority of those infected Patients with HCV have not received treatment [9]. Currently Egypt has the greatest burden of advanced liver disease from HCV worldwide, the estimates suggest that in Egypt in 2013, there were 770,000 persons with cirrhosis, 16,000 HCV-related HCC cases and 33,000 HCV-related to liver deaths [10]. Patients with hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus infections are at high risk for development of hepatic fbrosis that may eventually develop cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma [11]. Liver fbrosis in chronic liver disease, is characterized by excessive accumulation of an extracellular matrix, in response to chronic infammation. Chronic hepatitis C infection represents the most common cause of hepatic fbrosis in Egypt [12]. Liver biopsy remains an important tool in the evaluation and management of liver disease, but it has several limitations invasive test such as pain and bleeding. Te sample resulting from liver biopsy is only a very small piece of the liver, which can lead to incorrect staging if this sample is not representative of the rest of the liver. Besides, diferent pathologists can interpret the same sample diferently, which can result in discrepancies in liver disease staging [13]. To overcome these limitations, a new method for the staging of liver fbrosis is required. Tis technique must be non-invasive, fast, safe and reliable [14]. Transient elastography (TE) using Fibroscan is a relatively recent non-invasive method useful for staging of hepatic fbrosis [15]. TE was considered successful only if at least ten valid Measurements were performed on each patient. Te success rate at least 60%, and an interquartile range of <30% of the value of the median performance of TE can be limited in obese patients also is impossible in patients with ascites. As TE waves cannot penetrate into ascites, older age and feature of the metabolic syndrome [16]. Taurine, 2-amino-ethanesulphonic acids, (Tau) an essential amino acid, present at high concentrations in the liver [17]. It has various physiological functions and protective properties including protection against various types of hepatic damage [18]. Tau has also been shown to have hepatoprotective efects that are ofen accompanied by reduced endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, oxidative stress, production of infammatory, fbrogenic mediators and activation of stellate cells [18,19]. Agouza et al., Clin Med Biochem 2017, 3:1 DOI: 10.4172/2471-2663.1000127 Research Article Open Access Clin Med Biochem, an open access journal ISSN: 2471-2663 Volume 3 • Issue 1 • 1000127 Clinical & Medical Biochemistry: Open Access C l i n i c a l & M e d i c a l B i o ch e m i s t r y : O p e n A c c e s s ISSN: 2471-2663