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The Egyptian Journal of Internal Medicine
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Effect of direct-acting antivirals on elastographic measures in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection

The Egyptian Journal of Internal Medicine volume 31, pages 473–479 (2019)Cite this article

Abstract

Background

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a worldwide health problem. Liver fibrosis has been a major topic of research for decades. However, recent data have shown the occurrence of fibrosis fall in a wide spectrum of chronic liver diseases.

Aim

We aimed to evaluate the changes in transient elastography (TE) values of different direct-acting antivirals regimens in HCV chronic liver disease patients.

Settings and design

This observational analytic study was carried out at the Internal Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt.

Participants and methods

100 Egyptian chronic hepatitis C patients were recruited into this study. All participants were included according to the inclusion criteria approved by the national committee in Egypt for control of viral hepatitis. They were subjected to a thorough assessment of history and clinical examination, routine investigations, ECG, radiological examination, and TE 2 weeks before treatment initiation, at the end of the course, and 6 months after treatment.

Results

There was a significant improvement in liver stiffness (LS) values in cirrhotic patients, but they still had cirrhosis, with lower LS values than pretreatment values. This study reported a significant decrease 12 weeks after the end of treatment for LS measurements and validated fibrosis scores such as FIB-4 and APRI. Patients with F4 grade fibrosis showed a significant improvement in the score, and the percentage decreased from 56% before treatment to 42 and 38% after sustained virological response 1 and sustained virological response 2, respectively.

Conclusion

Direct-acting antivirals based treatment results in a significant improvement in hepatic fibrosis measures, indicated by TE as well as noninvasive fibrosis scores such as fibrosis score (FIB-4) and APRI.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine, Zagazig University Hospital, Zagazig, Egypt

    Mohamed M. Sakr, Ahmed I. El-Agrody MD & Hesham A. Farrag

Authors
  1. Mohamed M. Sakr
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  2. Ahmed I. El-Agrody MD
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  3. Hesham A. Farrag
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ahmed I. El-Agrody MD.

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Sakr, M.M., El-Agrody, A.I. & Farrag, H.A. Effect of direct-acting antivirals on elastographic measures in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection. Egypt J Intern Med 31, 473–479 (2019). https://doi.org/10.4103/ejim.ejim_43_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/ejim.ejim_43_19

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