Association between sustained virological response and clinical outcomes in patients with hepatitis C infection and hepatocellular carcinoma
Recommended Citation
Parikh ND, Mehta N, Hoteit MA, Yang JD, John BV, Moon AM, Salgia RJ, Pillai A, Kassab I, Saeed N, Thyssen E, Nathani P, McKinney J, Chan W, Durkin C, Connor M, Alsudaney M, Konjeti R, Durand B, Nissen NN, Kim HP, Paknikar R, Rich NE, Schipper MJ, and Singal AG. Association between sustained virological response and clinical outcomes in patients with hepatitis C infection and hepatocellular carcinoma. Cancer 2022.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-7-2022
Publication Title
Cancer
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Sustained viral response (SVR) improves survival for patients with hepatitis C (HCV) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after curative treatment; however, the benefit of SVR in those with active HCC with a significant competing risk of mortality is unknown. This study aimed to evaluate the association between SVR and outcomes in patients with active HCC.
METHODS: The authors performed a multicenter, retrospective cohort study including consecutive adults with HCV cirrhosis and treatment-naive HCC diagnosed between 2014 and 2018. Patients were stratified into two groups: active viremia (n = 431) and SVR before HCC diagnosis (n = 135). All patients underwent nonsurgical therapy as their initial treatment and were followed until liver transplantation, last follow-up, or death. The primary outcome was incident or worsening hepatic decompensation within 6 months and the secondary outcome was overall survival. All analyses used inverse probability of treatment weights (IPTW) to account for differences between the nonrandomized cohorts.
RESULTS: Post-SVR patients had significantly lower odds of hepatic decompensation compared to viremic patients (odds ratio [OR], 0.18; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.06-0.59). Results were consistent among subgroups of patients with Child Pugh A cirrhosis (OR, 0.22; 95% CI, 0.04-0.77), Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage B/C HCC (OR, 0.20; 95% CI, 0.04-0.65), and those receiving nonablative HCC therapies (OR, 0.21; 95% CI, 0.07-0.67). However, in IPTW multivariable Cox regression, SVR was not associated with improved survival (hazard ratio, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.56-1.12).
CONCLUSIONS: Patients with HCV-related HCC and SVR are less likely to experience hepatic decompensation than viremic patients, suggesting patients with HCC who are undergoing nonsurgical therapies may benefit from DAA treatment.
PubMed ID
35796530
ePublication
ePub ahead of print
