Author(s)

Ali A. Ghweil¹, Heba A. Osman^1*, Ashraf Khodeary²

¹Tropical Medicine and Gastroenterology Department, Faculty of Medicine, South Valley University, Qena, Egypt.
²Clinical Pathology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Sohag University, Sohag, Egypt.

Purpose: Chronic hepatitis B virus infection affects more than 3 million people worldwide. The present study aimed to evaluate the role of pretreatment factor IV collagen as predictor of post treatment virological response with hepatic fibrosis regression. Materials and Methods: This prospective cohort study has been conducted on 74 naieve patients with chronic HBV infection with variable degree of hepatic fibrosis (F2, F3, ≥F4), viral load, and variable degree of abnormality in laboratory parameters of liver functions. All patients treated with Entecavir 0.5 mg/day or 1 mg/day according to severity of hepatic condition for 1 year. Liver fibrosis assessed using fibroscan, factor IV collagen, (APRI) and (FIB-4) scores evaluation. Results: All included patients in our study achieve post treatment Virological response with undetectable HBV DNA PCR (<16 IU/ml). With significant post treatment reduction in mean fibroscan value 10.70 ± 5.80 (p < 0.001). There were also significant end treatment improvements in mean FIB score and APRI score 1.56 ± 1.02 (p < 0.0001) and 0.50 ± 0.28 (p < 0.0001) respectively. There is significant end treatment improvement of mean factor IV collagen. In our study 49 (66.22%) of included patients showed post treatment reduction in their level of hepatic fibrosis (Responder) opposite to 25 (33.78%) had no post treatment improvement in degree of hepatic fibrosis (Non-responder). Conclusion: Low pretreatment factor IV collagen is significantly correlated with virologial response and hepatic fibrosis regression post Entecavir therapy in patients with chronic HBV infection.

Entecavir, Hepatic Fibrosis, HBV

Ghweil, A. , Osman, H. and Khodeary, A. (2018) Diagnostic Efficacy of Serum Factor IV Collagen of Hepatic Fibrosis Regression in Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infected Patients. Advances in Infectious Diseases, 8, 241-254. doi: 10.4236/aid.2018.84020.