Hepatitis C News

Results of recent study in France showed that universal hepatitis C screening was the most effective strategy and was cost-effective when treatment was initiated regardless of patient fibrosis stage.

Patients with hepatitis C genotype 3 with compensated cirrhosis achieved a sustained virologic response rate higher than 90% after treatment with Epclusa with or without ribavirin, according to results of a recently published phase 3 study.

Hepatitis C with comorbid alcohol use disorder correlated with increased depression and anxiety, dysregulated cytokine expression, and compromised blood-brain barrier function, according to a recently published study.

Results of a recent study showed that nonalcoholic steatohepatitis was the most rapidly growing cause of hepatocellular carcinoma among U.S. patients listed for liver transplantation.

Just 10 years ago, patients with HIV and end-stage renal disease were often sent home to die from Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, because of limited access to dialysis and a shrinking organ donor pool. Then, in a pioneering program, physicians at the hospital began transplanting kidneys from HIV-positive donors into HIV-positive recipients, starting with four successful transplants. They announced the new therapeutic approach in a six-paragraph letter to The New England Journal of Medicine.

To expand the organ donor pool, physicians in the United States have begun transplanting kidneys and livers from hepatitis C-infected donors into HCV-negative recipients who are treated with direct-acting antivirals, or DAAs. Infectious Disease News asked Christine M. Durand, MD, assistant professor of medicine and oncology and a transplant infectious diseases specialist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, about the ethics of giving someone an infection they did not already have. Durand helped launch the EXPANDER trial at Johns Hopkins, a small study of 10 HCV-negative patients who received HCV-positive kidneys.

The number of liver transplantations due to hepatitis C-related decompensated cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma declined rapidly over the last 3 years while posttransplant survival has improved, according to data from the European Liver Transplant Registry .

This year at the Digestive Disease Meeting, physicians noted a significant increase in studies focused on the growing obesity epidemic and the gut microbiome as related to gastrointestinal complications. Additionally, the meeting included several presentations on nonalcoholic fatty liver disease treatment, outcomes in hepatitis C and hepatitis B, early detection of liver cancer, and reviews on recent obesity and gut microbiome studies.

Patients with hepatitis C genotype 1 through 4 who underwent liver transplantation had significantly high rates of sustained virologic response after treatment with Epclusa for 12 weeks, regardless of cirrhosis status, according to recently published data.

WASHINGTON — Researchers identified a cohort of homeless veterans who successfully completed hepatitis C treatment and achieved sustained virologic response, including patients with polysubstance use, according to a presentation at Digestive Disease Week 2018.