214
Views
11
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Hepatology

Longitudinal evaluation of liver stiffness and outcomes in patients with chronic hepatitis C before and after short- and long-term IFN-free antiviral treatment

ORCID Icon, ORCID Icon, ORCID Icon, ORCID Icon, ORCID Icon, ORCID Icon, ORCID Icon & ORCID Icon show all
Pages 245-249 | Received 20 Jun 2019, Accepted 07 Nov 2019, Published online: 21 Nov 2019
 

Abstract

Background: New direct-acting antiviral drugs can eradicate hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in over 90% of patients and can even reduce the risk of complications in advanced fibrosis/cirrhosis. The aims of this study were to evaluate (1) changes in fibrosis during and after antiviral treatment and (2) incidence of hepatocarcinoma and mortality in various fibrosis stages.

Methods: This is a longitudinal monocentric prospective study. Blood and instrumental examinations were evaluated at baseline, at the end of therapy, and 1 and 2 years following treatment.

Results: Two hundred and ninety-six patients with chronic HCV were evaluated, of whom 115 were experienced, 181 were treatment-naïve, and 2 had previous hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and were therefore excluded from the study. At baseline, stiffness values were 13.46 ± 9.97 kPa. Out of the 294 HCV patients enrolled, 100 had lymphoproliferative disorders and were evaluated separately. This group of patients showed stiffness values pertaining to the F0–F2 group (mean stiffness values were 6.07 ± 1.68 kPa). All other patients showed stiffness values pertaining to the F3–F4 group (mean stiffness values were 17.93 ± 10.23). No statistically significant difference was found between stiffness at baseline compared to the end of treatment (EOT), while significant differences were found between the baseline, 1 year (p = .05), and 2 year follow-ups (p < .01). Significant differences were found between baseline and EOT, as well as 1 and 2 years after the end of treatment (p < .001) in the F3–F4 group. Four out of 140 patients with baseline cirrhosis developed HCC during the post-treatment follow-up, 1 of whom died.

Conclusions: Non-invasive methods provide important prognostic information, particularly concerning the observed regression of fibrosis and could be extremely useful for monitoring patients with long life expectancies after direct-acting antiviral treatment.

Transparency

Declaration of funding

This work was supported by the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC), Investigator Grant Id 17391, Istituto Toscano Tumori (ITT), and Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze.

Declaration of financial/other relationships

ALZ has disclosed that she has served on speakers bureaus for Gilead, MSD, and Abbvie and on advisory boards for Abbvie, Gilead, MSD, and BMS. LG has disclosed that she has served on speakers bureaus for Gilead and BMS. CS has disclosed that she has served on speakers bureaus for Gilead and MSD.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Helena Ritchie for her English language editing skills.

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 65.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 681.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.