HCV New Drugs

Permanent Liver Damage May Be Avoided with Early Hepatitis C ...
Lauren Santye, Assistant Editor

Publish Date: Thursday, August 18, 2016

In a study published in PLOS One, hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients saw a decrease in liver stiffness (LS) from pre-treatment to sustained virological response at 24 weeks (SVR24), and no significant decrease during the additional follow-up.

The primary goal of HCV treatment is to achieve SVR, halt liver damage progression, and establish conditions that may allow hepatic fibrosis to regress. Successful treatments are able to reduce fibrosis and liver-related mortality, and most studies have shown that curing HCV diminishes HCC risk.

However, a recent study found that while fibrosis regresses in most patients post-SVR, the repair is frequently incomplete, and cirrhosis will persist in approximately 40% of patients who had cirrhosis before having treatment.

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