Abstract: Objective To explore the value of sound touch elastography (STE) in evaluating the degree of fibrosis in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and analyze the efficacy of STE in verifying fibrosis. To provide a new reference for staging the degree of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B. Method 264 patients with CHB liver fibrosis and 59 healthy volunteers were selected from February 2022 to March 2023. After liver puncture, the patients with liver fibrosis were divided into mild liver fibrosis group (113 cases), moderate liver fibrosis group (59 cases), severe liver fibrosis group (52 cases) and cirrhosis group (40 cases). The healthy volunteers were included in the normal control group. The general data and laboratory test indexes of each group were compared to evaluate the stage of liver fibrosis. Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC curve) was used to evaluate the diagnostic value of STE in different degrees of liver fibrosis. Result In cirrhosis group, splenic vein diameter (SPV), total bilirubin (TB), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), hyaluronic acid (HA), propeptide Ⅲ peptide (PⅢP) and type Ⅳ collagen (CⅣ) were the highest, while platelet count（PLT) was lowest. There were no significant differences in spleen length, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), AST, HA, PⅢP, CⅣ between the mild hepatic fibrosis group and the moderate hepatic fibrosis group (P>0.05), while there were statistically significant differences in spleen thickness and PLT between the two groups (P<0.05). Both liver STE and spleen STE were increased with the aggravation of liver fibrosis (P<0.05). The AUC of the ROC of STE in diagnosing mild, moderate and severe liver fibrosis were 0.853, 0.802 and 0.989, respectively. Conclusion STE has a significant effect in evaluating the degree of liver fibrosis in patients with CHB, STE has good diagnostic efficacy for staging liver fibrosis.

Key words: Hepatitis B virus, Degree of liver fibrosis, Cirrhosis, Sound touch elastography, Diagnostic efficiency