Discovery that hepatitis B and C viruses generate markedly different clinical pathologies highlights potential change in treatment plans for newly diagnosed patients
Newswise — CHICAGO —Significant clinical variations exist among patients with the most common type of liver cancer called hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), depending on the viral cause of the disease –hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV). These differences suggest that hepatitis status should be considered when developing treatment plans for newly diagnosed patients, according to researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
These findings, from the largest single-center studies of its kind will be presented on Sunday, May 31 in an oral presentation at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). The research builds on previous studies of differential effects of demographics, geographical distribution and risk factors, including hepatitis status, on treatment outcomes among patients with inoperable HCC. In these earlier studies, researchers observed different outcomes based on demographics and geographic patients distribution (Asia versus Europe and USA) among patients receiving the same local or systemic therapy approaches. They hypothesized that these differences might be attributed to variations with regard to hepatitis type, among other factors.
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