APASL GUIDELINESLiverfi brosis:consensusrecommendationsof the AsianPacifi cAssociationfor the Studyof the Liver(APASL)GamalShiha Æ Shiv Kumar Sarin Æ Alaa Eldin Ibrahim Æ Masao Omata Æ Ashish Kumar ÆLaurentius A. Lesmana Æ Nancy Leung Æ Nurdan Tozun Æ Saeed Hamid Æ Wasim Jafri ÆHitoshi Maruyama Æ Pierre Bedossa Æ Massimo Pinzani Æ Yogesh Chawla Æ Gamal Esmat ÆWahed Doss Æ Taher Elzanaty Æ Puja Sakhuja Æ Ahmed Medhat Nasr Æ Ashraf Omar ÆChun-Tao Wai Æ Ahmed Abdallah Æ Mohsen Salama Æ Abdelkhalek Hamed Æ Ayman Yousry ÆImam Waked Æ Medhat Elsahar Æ Amr Fateen Æ Sherif Mogawer Æ Hassan Hamdy Æ Reda Elwakil ÆJury of the APASL Consensus Development Meeting 29 January 2008 on Liver FibrosisWith Without Hepatitis B or CReceived: 30 August 2008 / Accepted: 30 October 2008 / Published online: 4 December 2008Ó Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver 2008AbstractLiver fibrosis is a common pathway leading tocirrhosis, which is the final result of injury to the liver.Accurate assessment of the degree of fibrosis is importantclinically, especially when treatments aimed at reversingfibrosis are being evolved. Liver biopsy has been consid-ered to be the ‘‘gold standard’’ to assess fibrosis. However,liver biopsy being invasive and, in many instances, notfavored by patients or physicians, alternative approaches toassess liver fibrosis have assumed great importance.Moreover, therapies aimed at reversing the liver fibrosishave also been tried lately with variable results. Till now,there has been no consensus on various clinical, patho-logical, and radiological aspects of liver fibrosis. The AsianPacific Association for the Study of the Liver set up aworking party on liver fibrosis in...