Peer-review started: August 11, 2016
First decision: September 13, 2016
Revised: September 26, 2016
Accepted: November 1, 2016
Article in press: November 2, 2016
Published online: January 8, 2017
To investigate shear wave (SW) propagation velocity in patients with untreated hepatitis C and patients with sustained virological response (SVR).
A total of 136 hepatitis C patients [85 patients who had not received antiviral therapy (naïve group) and 51 patients who had received antiviral therapy and subsequently achieved SVR of at least 24 wk (SVR group)] and 58 healthy volunteers and outpatients without liver disease (control group) underwent evaluation of liver stiffness by SW elastography (SWE). Various parameters were evaluated in the chronic hepatitis C patients at the time of SWE.
SW propagation velocity (Vs) was 1.23 ± 0.14 m/s in the control group, 1.56 ± 0.32 m/s in the SVR group, and 1.69 ± 0.31 m/s in the naïve group. Significant differences were seen between the control group and the SVR group (P = 0.0000) and between the SVR group and the naïve group (P = 0.01417). All four fibrosis markers were higher in the naïve group than in the SVR group. In the naïve group, Vs was positively correlated with alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (r = 0.5372), α feto protein (AFP) (r = 0.4389), type IV collagen (r = 0.5883), procollagen III peptide (P-III-P) (r = 0.4140), hyaluronic acid (r = 0.4551), and Mac-2 binding protein glycosylation isomer (M2BPGi) (r = 0.6092) and negatively correlated with albumin (r = -0.4289), platelets (r = -0.5372), and prothrombin activity (r = -0.5235). On multiple regression analysis, Vs was the most strongly correlated with ALT (standard partial regression std β = 0.4039, P = 0.00000). In the SVR group, Vs was positively correlated with AFP (r = 0.6977), type IV collagen (r = 0.5228), P-III-P (r = 0.5812), hyaluronic acid (r = 0.5189), and M2BPGi (r = 0.6251) and negatively correlated with albumin (r = -0.4283), platelets (r = -0.4842), and prothrombin activity (r = -0.4771). On multiple regression analysis, Vs was strongly correlated with AFP (standard partial regression std β = 0.5953, P = 0.00000) and M2BPGi (standard partial regression std β= 0.2969, P = 0.03363).
In hepatitis C patients, liver stiffness is higher in treatment-naïve patients than in those showing SVR. SWE may be a predictor of hepatocarcinogenesis in SVR patients.
Core tip: This study is the first to compare liver stiffness in a group of hepatitis C patients in whom the virus was eliminated with antiviral therapy and a group of untreated hepatitis C patients using shear wave elastography. The liver stiffness value was higher in the untreated group than in the group in which the virus had been eliminated, which is thought to be due hepatitis activity. This study also suggests the possibility that liver stiffness measurements with shear wave elastography can be used as predictors of hepatocarcinogenesis in patients in whom the virus has been eliminated.