Influence of antiviral therapy on the liver stiffness in chronic HBV hepatitis

• DOI: 10.1007/s15010-017-1113-1
• Publication Date: 2018-01-15T06:18:28Z
• Authors: Luca Rinaldi; Antonio Ascione; Vincenzo Messina; Valerio Rosato; Giovanna Valente; Vincenzo Sangiovanni; Rosa Zampino; Aldo Marrone; Luca Fontanella; Nicolina de Rosa; Pasquale Orabona; Carmela Buonomo; Antonio Chirianni; Luigi Elio Adinolfi; Guido Piai
• Keywords: Entecavir; Antiviral Therapy; Hepatic fibrosis; Hepatitis B

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of antiviral therapy on liver stiffness measurement (LSM).Two hundred HBV patients were enrolled from four hospital centers in southern Italy; median age was 50.7 (25-75) males were 68%; 171 patients underwent to liver biopsy and 200 patients had LSM at baseline and 189 at the end of follow-up. One hundred and forty-nine patients were treated with nucleos(t)ide analogs, while 51 patients were untreated. The cutoffs of the LSM, related to the fibrosis stages, were as follows: non-advanced fibrosis ≤ 8.1 kPa and advanced fibrosis ≥ 8.2 Kpa.At baseline, the median value of LSM was 14.1 kPa for advanced fibrosis/cirrhosis and 6.9 kPa for non-advanced fibrosis. LSM was performed at 24 months from the start of therapy. The treated patients (68% received Entecavir and 32% Tenofovir) showed a decrease in liver stiffness measurement of 1.5 kPa (p < 0.001) in non-advanced fibrosis and of 6 kPa (p < 0.001) in advanced fibrosis/cirrhosis. In the patients not undergoing antiviral treatment, no statistically significant change of the LSM was observed (p = 0.26). A logistic binary regression model showed that the only independent factor associated with a significant change in the LSM was the liver stiffness value at baseline (odd ratio 2.855; 95% CI 1.456-5.788; (p = 0.007).Long-term antiviral therapy induced a significant reduction of liver stiffness measurement and this result may be related to the reduction of liver fibrosis.