Sustained and continued improvement in hepatic fibrosis beyond the first year following hepatitis C virus treatment (original) (raw)

2018, Journal of Hepatology

Results: Twenty-nine patients were excluded from the analysis, 20 (7.6%) since they had F2/F3 OV at baseline and were treated with betablockers (BB), and 9 (3.7%) since they did not achieve SVR. Overall, 234 SVR patients were analysed. At baseline, 83 patients (35.5%) did not have OV and 151 (64.5%) had small OV. None received betablockers. After a median time of 24.5 months EGS showed de novo development of OV in 17/83 (20.5%) patients and progression from F1 to F2/F3 OV in 27/151 patients (17.9%), p = 0.58 by Kaplan Meier. By Cox regression analysis, LSPS as continuum variable (HR:1.05, CI95%:1.01-1.10, p = 0.046) or at a cut off ≥3 (HR:2.87, CI95%:1.44-5.72, p = 0.003) was associated with OV progression. Age (p = 0.15), gender (p = 0.93), BMI (p = 0.84) and SVR did not correlate with progression of OV. Conclusion: Progression of clinically significant portal hypertension, as assessed by the evolution of oesophagogastric varices, is not uncommon among patients with HCV cirrhosis after HCV clearance. Non-invasive evaluation using combined data of LS, spleen diameter, and platelet count can assist in identifying patients in whom portal hypertension is likely to progress notwithstanding SVR.