Sa1003 High Prevalence of Hepatitis C Virus in Ethnically Diverse Community Patients With Non-Liver Related Gastrointestinal Complaints

disease, were excluded. Ten cases excluding the exceptions mentioned above were selected as healthy controls. The research was approved by the ethics commission of our hospital and all subjects gave their informed consent prior to inclusion in the study. The recommended dose of sonazoid was injected intravenously, and liver segment 5-6 and the right kidney were viewed simultaneously on video images. The region of interest (ROI) focused on the kidney, and the point at which 80% of the ROI in the kidney was colored was set as 0 s. The time course was then divided by color images as red up to 5 s and yellow after 5 s, to create At-PI for the liver parenchyma. Based on the At-PI, the ratio of red area to the colored area of the whole liver was calculated using Image J imaging processing software. The ratio of red area and assessment by liver biopsy (F factor) were analyzed for trends using the Jonckheere-Terpstra test, whereas multiple comparisons were performed using the SteelDwass test. Moreover, the usability of At-PI for diagnosis of liver fibrosis was examined by ROC curve analysis. The liver markers albumin (Alb), platelets (PLT), and prothrombin time (PT%), and the red area of each case were compared to determine the correlation coefficients and significance of differences. US was performed by a single technologist to ensure the same conditions in all cases. Cases in which there was difficulty in visualizing the liver because of intracostal narrowing, etc., were excluded. [Results] The ratio of red area in each F factor increased with progression of liver fibrosis. The ratio of red area increased significantly with Alb, PLT, PT% (R2=0.31, P=0.028/ R2=0.45, P=0.0003/ R2= 0.51, P=0.0003). [Conclusion] Hepatic arterialization accompanying with liver fibrosis of chronic hepatitis C could be visualized by analysis using At-PI. In addition, progression of hepatic arterialization and F factor were correlated with Alb, PLT, and PT%, which are representative parameters of liver function. At-PI is a useful and convenient method because it permits visualization of hepatic arterialization with clear color images, and may be feasible for clinical use in the evaluation of liver function and progression of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C.