Abstract :
Objectives: There is little data on monitoring liver fibrosis progression using the new noninvasive
“transient elastography” method, especially in untreated HCV patients. To address this issue, the prospective co-
hort study was designed to assess transient elastography changes after a 6-month interval, and to compare data
between the HCV mono-infection group and the HCV/HIV co-infection group.
Method: Untreated HCV adult patients with or without HIV co-infection attending our clinic between
November 2011 and March 2012 were enrolled. Liver stiffness (LS) measurement by transient elastography method
(Fibroscan ® ) was performed at baseline and reported after 6-month. Fibrosis staging followed the METAVIR sys-
tem with cut-off LS level >7.1 kPa for F2, >9.5 kPa for F3 and >12.5 kPa for F4. The primary end-point was fibrosis
progression in both groups.
Results: One-hundred-and-thirty-one patients were recruited between November 2011 and March 2012.
A total of 129 patients performed the baseline demographic data analysis, and 115 patients in the pair analysis. The
73 patients (56%) had HCV mono-infection, and 56 patients (44%) had HCV/HIV co-infection. More advanced
age (49.9 vs. 42.3 years, p<0.001) and advanced liver disease (F4, LS>12.5kPa, 48% vs. 16.1%, p<0.001) were
observed in the HCV mono-infection group. Modest increase of LS at 6-month was seen in both groups, but not
statistically different (LS change 3.36 kPa and 1.54 kPa, p=0.107, for the HCV and the HCV/HIV group respec-
tively). During the study, there were 2 of 4 patients died from liver-related disease.
Conclusion: In first 6-month interval of our study, fibrosis progression was demonstrated by using LSM,
however, no difference between the both groups. Long term study should be continuing. |
file/Thai-Journal-of-gastroenterology-vol-15-no-1-2260210.pdf