Hematological effects of antiviral drugs for Hepatitis C virus

Abstract

Abstract Objective The treatment of HCV infection has evolved from interferon-based treatment approaches to direct-acting antivirals (DAAs). Despite the overall success, antiviral treatment of certain groups of patients remains challenging. Even if severe side effects are rare, they are not completely absent especially in patients with advanced liver disease. So, we aimed to evaluate hematological effects of antiviral drugs in chronic HCV patients. Patients and methods We randomly assigned 50 patients to treatment with daclatasvir/sofosbuvir for 12 weeks. Laboratory data were collected 3 and 6 months after end of treatment and compared to those before treatment. Results Our study showed SVR of 100% (P-value < 0.001). there was statistically significant increase of mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and hematocrit (HCT) (P-value = 0.035 and 0.048 respectively) 3 and 6 months after treatment. Hemoglobin was increased 3 months after treatment however changes in hemoglobin wasn’t statistically significant (P-value = 0.719). There was statistically improvement of hemoglobin 6 months after treatment (P-value = 0.019). There was statistically significant increase of platelet count 6 months after treatment (P-value = 0.038). Our study showed statistically significant improvement of total bilirubin (P-value = 0.001), ALT (P-value = 0.012), AST (P-value = 0.001), AFP (P-value = 0.002) 6 months after treatment. Conclusions Results support the safety of sofosbuvir-daclatasvir regimen among Egyptians and suggest a significant role of those drug regimens in the treatment of HCV with least adverse events.