Assessing liver fibrosis without biopsy in patients with HCV or NAFLD.

Staging of liver fibrosis is increasingly done using noninvasive methods, in some cases obviating the need for liver biopsy. Scores based on laboratory values and demographic variables have been developed and validated for assessing fibrosis in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), as have several imaging methods that measure shear-wave velocity, a reflection of fibrosis severity.