Patients with liver cancer can be treated for hepatitis C

A large multicentre study refutes earlier suggestions that antiviral drugs for the treatment of hepatitis C could lead to a greater recurrence of liver cancer.

Researchers at the UT Southwestern Medical Center have studied the records of patients successfully treated for liver cancer at 31 medical centers in North America, comparing those with and without direct-acting antivirals for hepatitis C. The study revealed no significant difference in the recurrence of liver cancer between the two groups.

Likewise, the study did not reveal any difference in the aggressiveness of cancer in patients with recurrence.

"Our study was inspired by a single-center study conducted by Spanish researchers in 2016. This study leaked a lot of ink and raised concerns about treating liver cancer patients for their hepatitis C," he said. Dr. Amit Singal, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine Medical Director of the Liver Tumor Program. "Based on this new data, providers can rest badured that it is safe to treat hepatitis C in these patients and allow them to benefit from the known benefits of hepatitis treatment. C. "

In the United States, some 3.2 million people, the vast majority of whom are baby boomers, have chronic hepatitis C infection. Many of these people suffer from liver inflammation and inflammation. Impairment of liver function, as well as cirrhosis or scarring of liver tissue. Since 2013, effective antiviral drugs are available to treat hepatitis C infection.

Chronic hepatitis C infection is also one of the leading causes of liver cancer. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, half of people with liver cancer have chronic infection with underlying hepatitis C.

The rate of new cases of liver cancer has been steadily increasing over the past several decades and the state of Texas has one of the highest rates of occurrence in the country.

When liver cancer is diagnosed early, it can be effectively treated by surgery, ablation or radiotherapy. Sometimes the tumor is successfully removed from liver cancer, but the underlying chronic infection with hepatitis C remains and continues to further impair liver function.

In this study, published in the journal Gastroenterology, 42% of liver cancer survivors treated with direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) had a recurrence of their cancer, compared to 59% of patients who had not been treated with antivirals.

"Our results suggest that the use of DAA therapies is safe and potentially beneficial in patients infected with hepatitis C and with a history of liver cancer," said Dr. Singal, chairholder David Bruton, Jr. in Clinical Cancer Research and Chief of Clinics. d & # 39; hepatology.

Provided by
UT Southwestern Medical Center