Role of albumin-bilirubin score in non-malignant liver disease

Abstract

The albumin-bilirubin (ALBI) score, which was proposed to assess the prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, has gradually been extended to other liver diseases in recent years, including primary biliary cholangitis, liver cirrhosis, hepatitis, liver transplantation, and liver injury. The ALBI score is often compared with classical scores such as the Child-Pugh and model for end-stage liver disease scores or other noninvasive prediction models. It is widely employed because of its immunity to subjective evaluation indicators and ease of obtaining detection indicators. An increasing number of studies have confirmed that it is highly accurate for assessing the prognosis of patients with chronic liver disease; additionally, it has demonstrated good predictive performance for outcomes beyond survival in patients with liver diseases, such as decompensation events. This article presents a review of the application of ALBI scores in various non-malignant liver diseases.

Keywords: Albumin-bilirubin score; Liver cirrhosis; Primary biliary cholangitis; Hepatitis; Liver transplantation; Liver injury

Core Tip: The application of albumin-bilirubin score in liver diseases is not limited to hepatocellular carcinoma. In addition to predicting disease progression, it can also be used to predict survival in other non-malignant liver diseases.