People with liver cancer who achieve a sustained virological response (SVR) to antiviral therapy for Hepatitis C (direct acting antiviral / DAA) have decreased in terms of mortality from all causes and causes related to liver disease in overall five years.
This was presented at the Liver Meeting in Boston on November 8-12, 2019.
Prof. Mindie Nguyen from Stanford University in California in an AASLD press release said that “Patients with liver cancer have a grim prognosis.”
“If patients take DAA drugs and achieve sustained virological response (SVR) that is characterized by an undetectable virus after therapy, this can increase their survival rate by an average of 18 months. This progress is quite large compared to other systemic therapy are currently available for patients with liver cancer. “
The study looked at 642 people in the United States, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan followed between 2005 and 2017. Half of the study participants were not treated for Hepatitis C and half were successfully treated with DAA regimens without interferon.
After adjusting for other factors, achieving SVR with the use of DAA was associated with a 76% lower risk of liver-related mortality and a 63% reduction in five-year mortality due to all causes.
These two results show a statistically significant difference.
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