Reviewer's report 
 Serum hyaluronate as a non invasive marker of hepatic fibrosis and inflammation in chronic Title: 
HBV infection 
 1  17 May 2005 Version: Date: 
 Jean-Pierre P ZARSKI Reviewer: 
Reviewer's report: 
General This manuscript reports the interest of hyaluronic acid in the detection of liver fibrosis in 
chronic hepatitis B. However only few patients were included and not correctly separated according to liver fibrosis (F0 to F4). It is unnecessay to include decompensated cirrhosis. We don' have any informations on the comparison between HBe Ag(+) and HBe Ag (-) patients. Finally we know that 
hyaluronate has a lower sensitivity and specificity than Fibrotest or other markers. The comparison 
between these different parameters is necessary 
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Major Compulsory Revisions (that the author must respond to before a decision on publication can 
be reached) 
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Minor Essential Revisions (such as missing labels on figures, or the wrong use of a term, which the 
author can be trusted to correct) 
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Discretionary Revisions (which the author can choose to ignore) 
 Reject because scientifically unsound What next?: 
 An article of limited interest Level of interest: 
 Needs some language corrections before being published Quality of written English: 
 No Statistical review: 
Reviewer's report 
 Serum hyaluronate as a non invasive marker of hepatic fibrosis and inflammation in chronic Title: 
HBV infection 
 1  17 May 2005 Version: Date: 
 Jean-Pierre P ZARSKI Reviewer: 
Reviewer's report: 
General This manuscript reports the interest of hyaluronic acid in the detection of liver fibrosis in 
chronic hepatitis B. However only few patients were included and not correctly separated according to liver fibrosis (F0 to F4). It is unnecessay to include decompensated cirrhosis. We don' have any informations on the comparison between HBe Ag(+) and HBe Ag (-) patients. Finally we know that 
hyaluronate has a lower sensitivity and specificity than Fibrotest or other markers. The comparison 
between these different parameters is necessary 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Major Compulsory Revisions (that the author must respond to before a decision on publication can 
be reached) 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Minor Essential Revisions (such as missing labels on figures, or the wrong use of a term, which the 
author can be trusted to correct) 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Discretionary Revisions (which the author can choose to ignore) 
 Reject because scientifically unsound What next?: 
 An article of limited interest Level of interest: 
 Needs some language corrections before being published Quality of written English: 
 No Statistical review: 
Please review this paper.
user
Reviewer's report 
 Serum hyaluronate as a non invasive marker of hepatic fibrosis and inflammation in chronic Title: 
HBV infection 
 1  17 May 2005 Version: Date: 
 Jean-Pierre P ZARSKI Reviewer: 
Reviewer's report: 
General This manuscript reports the interest of hyaluronic acid in the detection of liver fibrosis in 
chronic hepatitis B. However only few patients were included and not correctly separated according to liver fibrosis (F0 to F4). It is unnecessay to include decompensated cirrhosis. We don' have any informations on the comparison between HBe Ag(+) and HBe Ag (-) patients. Finally we know that 
hyaluronate has a lower sensitivity and specificity than Fibrotest or other markers. The comparison 
between these different parameters is necessary 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Major Compulsory Revisions (that the author must respond to before a decision on publication can 
be reached) 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Minor Essential Revisions (such as missing labels on figures, or the wrong use of a term, which the 
author can be trusted to correct) 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Discretionary Revisions (which the author can choose to ignore) 
 Reject because scientifically unsound What next?: 
 An article of limited interest Level of interest: 
 Needs some language corrections before being published Quality of written English: 
 No Statistical review: 
assistant