Individuals with chronic liver diseases cirrhosis triggered by hepatitis B or hepatitis C infection, often develops into hepatocellular carcinoma. Both the treatments i.e direct-acting antiviral (DAA) and interferon (IFN)  mentioned in this multi-institution study of 338 patients, portrayed that the recurrence rates and patterns of hepatocellular carcinoma did not differ among sustained virologic response patients via the PS matching analysis.

This study aimed to distinguish between the direct-acting antiviral (DAA) treatments and interferon (IFN) treatment concerning hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and survival.

A total of 338 patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and prior HCC treatments who started IFN (88 patients, IFN group) or DAA treatment (250 patients, DAA group) with sustained virologic response (SVR) were examined. The propensity score (PS) matching was used to compare the increasing HCC recurrence and survival rates between the 2 groups.

Sixty-three patients were chosen for each group following the matching. At 1 and 3 years, increased HCC recurrence rates were 20.6% and 34.6% in the IFN group and 19.2% and 43.0% in the DAA group, correspondingly. Between the two groups, no significant differences in HCC recurrence patterns were detected as depicted from the following graph 1:

Graph 1: Increasing HCC recurrence rates by antiviral therapies following PS matching

At 1 and 3 years, the overall survival rates were 100% and 96.6% in the IFN group and 100% and 96.4% in the DAA group, correspondingly. The difference in overall survival rates between the 2 groups was not significant. Overall, there were no significant differences in HCC recurrence and overall survival rates were observed between the groups of patients receiving curative treatment (liver resection or radiofrequency ablation) for the most recent HCC prior to HCV therapy as seen in below graph 2:

Graph 1: Total survival rates by antiviral therapies following PS matching

In patients with IFN and DAA therapy, the recurrence rates and patterns of HCC and overall survival rates did not vary among patients with SVR.