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The study showed that even after achieving a cure for hepatitis C, approximately 50% of those patients demonstrated evidence of NAFLD.
WASHINGTON, DC — Evidence of steatosis is found in almost half the patients with hepatitis C who achieved a sustained virologic response after treatment with direct-acting antivirals, results from a prospective study show.
“Fatty liver is very common now that hepatitis C is being treated effectively,” said Mazen Noureddin, MD, from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
American and European guidelines state that a patient can be discharged from care in the absence of cirrhosis and elevated liver enzymes, but “we wanted to see what happens after direct-acting antiviral treatment,” he said.
Steatosis was “very prevalent” in the study population, “although liver enzymes were normal,” Dr Noureddin reported here at The Liver Meeting 2017.
Monitoring people for steatosis after a sustained virologic response is not common practice, he told Medscape Medical News, but these findings suggest that long-term monitoring is warranted.
Read more (requires subscription but it is free): https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/887760