Study the Effect of Weight Loss in Improvement of Hepatic Fibrosis in Patients with Chronic HCV

Abstract

Background: Liver fibrosis considered as a reversible disease, but curing the primary hepatic disease, sometimes, doesn’t mean fibrosis improvement. Steatosis could be one of the reasons responsible for this failure. Weight loss has been shown to improve fibrosis, but few data is available from Egypt. Objective: to test the effect of weight reduction on the degree of fibrosis improvement in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC). Methods: Adult patients (> 18 years) were recruited from hepatitis Cout patient’s clinic, National Liver Institute (NLI), University of Menoufyia, from 2016 to 2018. Results: Thirty CHC patients with moderate and severe steatosis, who were initially assessed by liver biopsy and Transient elastography (TE) for their fibrosis stage, were followed up by Transient elastography after losing >10% of their weight. Median age was 44.7 years (29 – 59 years) and 50% were men. The degree of fibrosis and its values improved with the significant weight loss (p < 0.01 for both). Conclusion: Weight reduction is associated with improvement of hepatic fibrosis in patient with CHC. Elastography; NAFLD: Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease; N: Number, SD: Standard Deviation, BMI: Body Mass Index; ALT: Alanine Aminotransferase, AST: Aspartate Aminotransferase, RNA: Ribonucleic Acid, INR: International Normalized Ratio, kPa: Kilopascal