Among those coinfected with HIV, a cure for hepatitis C virus (HCV) is
linked with improvements in liver stiffness, even if they have
cirrhosis, aidsmap reports. Publishing their findings in the journal
AIDS, researchers studied 98 HIV/HCV-coinfected individuals who had
taken at least one dose of hep C therapy.
Fifty-three members of
the cohort (54 percent) achieved a sustained virologic response 12 weeks
after completing therapy (SVR12, considered a cure).
The median follow-up time for the entire study group was 45 months.
One
year after treatment, the probability of seeing FibroScan liver
stiffness tests values drop by 30 percent was 51 percent among those
cured of hep C and 21 percent among those who were not cured. Two years
after treatment, the respective rates of those experiencing such a drop
were 74 percent and 28 percent.
Among the 35 individuals who had
cirrhosis before hep C treatment, 14 of 18 (78 percent) of those who
were cured and 3 of 17 (18 percent) of those who were not cured saw
their liver stiffness drop below the FibroScan test’s cirrhosis
threshold.
The researchers found that, among the study cohort as
a whole and among just those with cirrhosis, curing hep C was linked
with a respective 5.77-fold and 8.21-fold increased likelihood of
reducing liver stiffness levels by at least 30 percent.
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