Document Detail


Effect of interferon-alpha on progression of cirrhosis to hepatocellular carcinoma: a retrospective cohort study. International Interferon-alpha Hepatocellular Carcinoma Study Group.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  10326535     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
BACKGROUND: There is debate about whether interferon-alpha treatment lowers the risk of progression to hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with chronic viral hepatitis and cirrhosis and whether any effect is limited to certain subgroups. We investigated these issues by retrospective analysis of data for 913 patients from Italy and Argentina. METHODS: 21 centres reported patients from their records who had chronic viral hepatitis and Child's A cirrhosis, were positive for HBsAg or hepatitis-C-virus antibodies (anti-HCV), and had been screened yearly for at least 3 years by ultrasonography and alpha-1-fetoprotein testing. Prognostic risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma defined by multivariate Cox regression analysis and individual observation time were used for group matching and conditional logistic regression analysis of the independent interferon-alpha treatment effect. FINDINGS: After group matching, the number of patients was reduced to 637. Age, male sex, and portal hypertension were significant risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma (each p < 0.001); hepatic inflammation (p = 0.21) and iron storage (p = 0.18) were also included in the model 66 (19%) of 356 untreated patients and 29 (10%) of 281 treated patients developed hepatocellular carcinoma (relative risk 1.99 [95% CI 1.09-3.64]); the corresponding proportions for anti-HCV-positive patients were 48 (18.5%) of 259 versus 21 (9.1%) of 232 (3.14 [1.46-6.80]), and those for hepatitis-B-virus-infected (HBV) patients were 18 (10%) of 97 and eight (16%) of 49 (0.98 [0.33-2.92]). Among anti-HCV patients without HBV markers, 29 (20%) of 129 untreated and six (5%) of 116 treated patients developed hepatocellular carcinoma (6.28 [1.65-23.8]). INTERPRETATION: Interferon treatment lowered the rate of progression to hepatocellular carcinoma two fold. The risk reduction was apparently greater for patients with chronic hepatitis C and no evidence of HBV infection. Future studies should stratify HCV-infected patients by HBV status.
Authors:
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Lancet     Volume:  351     ISSN:  0140-6736     ISO Abbreviation:  Lancet     Publication Date:  1998 May 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  1999-05-27     Completed Date:  1999-05-27     Revised Date:  2006-11-15    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  2985213R     Medline TA:  Lancet     Country:  ENGLAND    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  1535-9     Citation Subset:  AIM; IM    
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Adolescent
Adult
Age Factors
Aged
Antineoplastic Agents / therapeutic use*
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / pathology*,  prevention & control
Case-Control Studies
Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / pathology
Cohort Studies
Disease Progression
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Hepatitis B, Chronic / physiopathology
Hepatitis C, Chronic / physiopathology
Humans
Hypertension, Portal / complications
Interferon-alpha / therapeutic use*
Liver Cirrhosis / pathology*,  therapy
Liver Neoplasms / pathology*,  prevention & control
Logistic Models
Male
Middle Aged
Multivariate Analysis
Prognosis
Proportional Hazards Models
Retrospective Studies
Risk Factors
Sex Factors
Chemical
Reg. No./Substance:
0/Antineoplastic Agents; 0/Interferon-alpha
Comments/Corrections
Erratum In:
Lancet 1998 Oct 10;352(9135):1230

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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