Factors affecting long‐term changes of liver stiffness in direct‐acting anti‐hepatitis C virus therapy: A multicentre prospective study

摘要

Abstract The long‐term changes of liver stiffness (LS) in patients who achieve viral clearance after direct‐acting anti‐HCV therapy remain undefined. We conducted a multicentre prospective study to investigate this aspect. Patients with HCV infection treated with DAAs were enrolled from six Italian centres; they underwent clinical, biochemical, ultrasound and transient elastography evaluations before treatment (T0), 12?weeks (SVR12) and 24?months (T24) after the end of therapy. Among the 516 consecutive patients enrolled, 301 had cirrhosis. LS significantly decreased from T0 to SVR (14.3 vs 11.1?kPa, p?=?.002), with a progressive reduction until T24 (8.7?kPa, p?