Impact of Direct Acting Antivirals Therapy on Novel Fibrosis Index for Assessment of Hepatic Fibrosis in Comparison with AST to Platelet Ratio and Fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) Indexes in Egyptian Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C Infection in Correlation with Fibroscan

Abstract

Background: Scarring or progressive fibrosis and cirrhosis develop over time as a result of chronic viral infection, which induces inflammation and tissue healing via deposition of extracellular matrix. There has been an increase in the sustained virological response (SVR) and the rate of eradication of HCV because of the effectiveness of directacting antiviral drugs (DAAs). Reduced hepatic fibrosis is associated with increased SVR rates. There are a variety of non-invasive fibrosis imaging, scoring, and marker methods: transient elastography, aminotransferase platelet ratio index (APRI), as well as fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) score. Objective: The purpose of this research was comparing the novel fibrosis index to APRI, (FIB-4) score and fibroscan in predicting the degree of hepatic fibrosis in Egyptian chronic HCV patients who were managed by DAAs. Patients and methods: 100 Egyptians with chronic HCV infection participated in a our 3-month long prospective Cohort research using the IFN-free DAA combination of Sofosbuvir and Daclatasvir ± Ribavirin. Results: There was significant regression of fibrosis with DAAs treatment in all patients achieving SVR by fibroscan, APRI and fib4. Novel fibrosis index is reliable and good tool in estimation of liver fibrosis in correlation to fibroscan, with the cutoff value in prediction of hepatic fibrosis stage 4 was >3.1 and has sensitivity of 81.5% while the specificity was 74.1%. Conclusion Novel fibrosis index has been found to be good reliable marker for assessment of liver fibrosis with high accuracy of predicting f4 fibrosis stage. There was significant marked reduction of fibrosis degree by fibroscan, APRI and FIB4 after DAAs treatment.