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.
Read more.... Labels: differences in liver cancer, HBV, HCC, HCV