scholarly journals Low incidence of HCC in chronic hepatitis C patients with pretreatment liver stiffness measurements below 17.5 kilopascal who achieve SVR following DAAs

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. e0243725
Author(s):  
Jacob Søholm ◽  
Janne Fuglsang Hansen ◽  
Belinda Mössner ◽  
Birgit Thorup Røge ◽  
Alex Lauersen ◽  
...  

Background and aims To evaluate the ability of pretreatment liver stiffness measurements (pLSM) to predict hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), incident decompensation and all-cause mortality in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients who achieved sustained virological response (SVR) after treatment with direct-acting antivirals (DAAs). Methods 773 CHC patients with SVR after DAA treatment and no prior liver complications were identified retrospectively. Optimized cut-off of 17.5 kPa for incident HCC was selected by maximum Youden’s index. Patients were grouped by pLSM: <10 kPa [reference], 10–17.4 kPa and ≥17.5 kPa. Primary outcomes were incident hepatocellular carcinoma and secondary outcomes were incident decompensated cirrhosis and all-cause mortality, analyzed using cox-regression. Results Median follow-up was 36 months and 43.5% (336) had cirrhosis (LSM>12.5 kPa). The median pLSM was 11.6 kPa (IQR 6.7–17.8, range 2.5–75) and pLSM of <10 kPa, 10–17.4 kPa and 17.5–75 kPa was seen in 41.5%, 32.2% and 26.3%. During a median follow-up time of 36 months, 11 (1.4%) developed HCC, 14 (1.5%) developed decompensated cirrhosis, and 38 (4.9%) patients died. A pLSM of 17.5 kPa identified patients with a high risk of HCC with a negative predictive value of 98.9% and incidence rate of HCC in the 17.5–75 kPa group of 1.40/100 person years compared to 0.14/100 person years and 0.12/100 person years in the 10–17.4 kPa and <10 kPa groups, p<0.001. Conclusion Pretreatment LSM predicts risk of HCC, decompensation and all-cause mortality in patients with SVR after DAA treatment. Patients with a pLSM <17.5 kPa and no other risk factors for chronic liver disease appear not to benefit from HCC surveillance for the first 3 years after treatment. Longer follow-up is needed to clarify if they can be safely excluded from post treatment HCC screening hereafter.

Medicina ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 210
Author(s):  
Martynas Ridziauskas ◽  
Birutė Zablockienė ◽  
Ligita Jančorienė ◽  
Artūras Samuilis ◽  
Rolandas Zablockis ◽  
...  

Background and Objectives: Chronic hepatitis C virus infection affects about 71 million people worldwide. It is one of the most common chronic liver conditions associated with an increased risk of developing liver cirrhosis and cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate changes in liver fibrosis and the risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma after direct-acting antiviral drug therapy, and to assess factors, linked with these outcomes. Materials and Methods: 70 chronic hepatitis C patients were evaluated for factors linked to increased risk of de novo liver cancer and ≥ 20% decrease of ultrasound transient elastography values 12 weeks after the end of treatment. Results: The primary outcome was an improvement of liver stiffness at the end of treatment (p = 0.004), except for patients with diabetes mellitus type 2 (p = 0.49). Logistic regression analysis revealed factors associated with ≥ 20% decrease of liver stiffness values: lower degree of steatosis in liver tissue biopsy (p = 0.053); no history of interferon-based therapy (p = 0.045); elevated liver enzymes (p = 0.023–0.036); higher baseline liver stiffness value (p = 0.045) and absence of splenomegaly (p = 0.035). Hepatocellular carcinoma developed in 4 (5.7%) patients, all with high alpha-fetoprotein values (p = 0.0043) and hypoechoic liver mass (p = 0.0001), three of these patients had diabetes mellitus type 2. Conclusions: Liver stiffness decrease was significant as early as 12 weeks after the end of treatment. Patients with diabetes and advanced liver disease are at higher risk of developing non-regressive fibrosis and hepatocellular carcinoma even after successful treatment.


Cancers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 2602 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eiichi Ogawa ◽  
Hideyuki Nomura ◽  
Makoto Nakamuta ◽  
Norihiro Furusyo ◽  
Eiji Kajiwara ◽  
...  

Advanced fibrosis/cirrhosis and related biomarkers have been recognized as useful predictors of the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) following hepatitis C virus (HCV) cure by direct-acting antivirals (DAAs). However, it remains unclear if DAAs themselves have an influence on or facilitate the development of HCC. This multicenter cohort study included CHC patients without a history of HCC who achieved HCV elimination by DAAs. Cohorts of 835 patients treated with a sofosbuvir (SOF)-based regimen and 835 treated with a SOF-free regimen were matched 1:1 by propensity scoring with nine variables to evaluate differences in HCC incidence. The median observation period was 3.5 years. Sixty-nine cases of HCC were found during 5483.9 person-years (PY) over the entire follow-up period. The annual incidence was similar for both groups (SOF-based 1.25 and SOF-free 1.27 per 100 PY, respectively: adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 1.26, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.75–2.12, p = 0.39). However, the annual incidence within the first two years was higher for patients treated with SOF than for those without, but did not reach significance (1.50 and 0.97 per 100 PY incidence rates, respectively: adjusted HR 2.05, 95% CI 0.98–4.25, p = 0.06). In summary, DAA treatment with SOF was not associated with an increase in the development of de novo HCC.


2020 ◽  
Vol 59 (12) ◽  
pp. 1382-1391
Author(s):  
Nashwa El‐Khazragy ◽  
Amal Ali Elshimy ◽  
Safaa Shawky Hassan ◽  
Mohamed Hafez Shaaban ◽  
Ahmed Hamed Bayoumi ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (12) ◽  
pp. 1489-1492 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clovis Lusivika‐Nzinga ◽  
Hélène Fontaine ◽  
Céline Dorival ◽  
Mélanie Simony ◽  
Stanislas Pol ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 204020662097483
Author(s):  
Sun Hee Lee ◽  
Hyun Phil Shin ◽  
Joung Il Lee

Background Recently, new direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) are known to eradicate chronic hepatitis C (CHC) virus infection and prevent the progression of liver fibrosis. Liver fibrosis may predispose to liver cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma. We investigated the effect of DAAs on liver fibrosis using non-invasive methods, and evaluated the correlations of these methods. Methods We retrospectively analyzed 68 patients with CHC who were treated with DAAs and reached sustained virologic response at 12 weeks post-treatment from January 2016 to October 2018. The degree of liver fibrosis was assessed using serum biomarkers, such as AST-to-platelet ratio index (APRI) and fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) index. Liver stiffness was assessed using two-dimensional shear-wave elastography (2 D-SWE). The pre- and post-treatment serum biomarker levels and SWE findings were evaluated and compared. Results A total of 68 patients with CHC were enrolled. The median age was 58 years (52.3–73 years) and 37 patients (54.4%) were female. After treatment, the median APRI was decreased from 0.701 to 0.328 (P < 0.0001), and the median FIB-4 was decreased from 2.355 to 1.860 (P < 0.0001). The median kPa in 2 D-SWE significantly reduced from 6.85 to 5.66 (P = 0.013). APRI and FIB-4 were significantly correlated pre- and post-treatment; however, the correlation between the serum biomarkers and 2 D-SWE was partially significant. Conclusion The serum fibrosis biomarkers and liver stiffness on 2 D-SWE were shown to be improved after the treatment with DAAs. Further research including larger number of patients is needed to compare the efficacy of each evaluating method.


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