Chan J, et al. - An analysis was performed to ascertain the effect of treatment with modern hepatitis C virus (HCV) direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapy on noninvasive liver fibrosis measurements. In liver stiffness measurement (LSM), treatment of chronic HCV with modern DAA therapy was correlated with a significant improvement by vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTE) measurement, implying possible early improvement in liver fibrosis along with resolution of inflammation over the first year after treatment completion.

• The authors enrolled 70 patients who had VCTE-based liver stiffness measurement (LSM) taken before treatment, directly after treatment completion and at least 12 months after completion of DAA therapy.
• A >30% improvement in VCTE score at the end of follow-up, relative to baseline was the primary outcome.

• In this cohort, the sustained virologic response rate was 95.7%.
• The primary outcome was met by 34 patients (48.6%) in this cohort.
• Patients who had baseline elevated alanine aminotransferase (OR 3.27; 95% CI 1.13-9.47) and genotype 1 (OR 14.63; 95% CI 1.70-125.83) had higher odds of meeting that outcome.
• Moreover, this remained significant after adjusting for age, baseline body mass index, gender, baseline elevated alkaline phosphatase levels, treatment experience, liver transplant status, smoking, and baseline liver stiffness.