Relationship between hepatic CTGF expression and routine blood tests at the time of liver transplantation for biliary atresia: hope or hype for a biomarker of hepatic fibrosis

摘要

Background:Progressive hepatic fibrosis (HF) is a prominent feature of biliary atresia (BA), the most common indication for liver transplantation (LT) in children. Despite its importance in BA, HF is not evaluated in routine patient care because the invasiveness of liver biopsy makes histologic monitoring of fibrosis unfeasible. Therefore, the identification of noninvasive markers to assess HF is desirable especially in children.