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Mild Liver Disease Common at Lymphoma Diagnosis in Patients with HCV
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NEW YORK — Patients with hepatitis C virus infection often showed signs of mild liver disease when diagnosed with HCV-associated B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, according to data presented at the AASLD/EASL Special Conference on Hepatitis C.
Eighty-four patients with HCV-associated non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (HCV-NHL) were evaluated to determine liver disease stages. The cohort was primarily male (73%), white (62%) and had HCV genotype 1 (64%) or genotype 2 infection (22%). Patients who had previously achieved sustained virologic response through antiviral therapy (AVT) were compared with patients who had not reached SVR.
Researchers wrote that 82% of patients did not have advanced liver disease at HCV-NHL diagnosis, and 6% of all patients had undetectable HCV RNA when lymphoma was confirmed. Forty-nine patients had chronic HCV before lymphoma diagnosis, with 53% receiving AVT and 21% achieving SVR.
Research indicated that previous health care providers of patients with HCV did not recommend AVT in 47% of cases because advanced liver disease at HCV diagnosis was not prominent. Forty-two percent of all patients were not afforded previous care for HCV since HCV and NHL were diagnosed simultaneously. Researchers did not determine any predictors for developing HCV-NHL despite some patients achieving previous SVR.
“It seems intuitive to eradicate HCV to prevent HCV-NHL as very few patients who attained an SVR developed such cancer,” the researchers wrote. “Our findings suggest the need for early AVT in infected patients. Research efforts should focus on the identification of high-risk patients of HCV-NHL development that will need to be prioritized in the era of new AVT.”
For more information:
Torres HA. Abstract #59. Presented at: AASLD/EASL Special Conference on Hepatitis C, Sept. 12-13, 2014; New York.
Disclosure: Torres reports multiple financial disclosures. See the abstract for a full list of relevant financial disclosures.