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The A.A.E.E.H has developed this guideline for the best care of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) from Argentina. It was done from May 2018 to March 2020. Specific clinical research questions were systematically searched. The quality of evidence and level of recommendations were organized according to GRADE. HCC surveillance is strongly recommended with abdominal ultrasound (US) every six months in the population at risk for HCC (cirrhosis, hepatitis B or hepatitis C); it is suggested to add alpha-feto protein (AFP) levels in case of inexeperienced sonographers. Imaging diagnosis in patients at risk for HCC has high specificity and tumor biopsy is not mandatory. The Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer algorithm is strongly recommended for HCC staging and treatment-decision processes. Liver resection is strongly recommended for patients without portal hypertension and preserved liver function. Composite models are suggested for liver transplant selection criteria. Therapies for HCC with robust clinical evidence include transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) and first to second line systemic treatment options (sorafenib, lenvatinib, regorafenib, cabozantinib and ramucirumab). Immunotherapy with nivolumab and pembrolizumab has failed to show statistical benefit but the novel combination of atezolizumab plus bevacizumab has recently shown survival benefit over sorafenib in frontline. Fil: Piñero, Federico. Universidad Austral. Hospital Universitario Austral; Argentina Fil: Tanno, Mario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Hospital Nacional del Centenario; Argentina Fil: Aballay Soteras, Gabriel. Ministerio de Defensa. Ejército Argentino. Hospital Militar Central Cirujano Mayor "Dr. Cosme Argerich"; Argentina Fil: Tisi Baña, Matías. Universidad Austral. Hospital Universitario Austral; Argentina Fil: Dirchwolf, Melisa. Hospital Privado de Rosario; Argentina Fil: Fassio, Eduardo. Hospital Nacional Profesor Alejandro Posadas.; Argentina Fil: Ruf, Andrés. Hospital Privado de Rosario; Argentina Fil: Mengarelli, Silvia Estela. Gobierno de la Provincia de Entre Rios. Hospital San Roque.; Argentina Fil: Borzi, Silvia. Hospital Privado de Cordoba; Argentina Fil: Fernández, Nora. Hospital Británico de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Ridruejo, Ezequiel. Universidad Austral. Hospital Universitario Austral; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. CEMIC-CONICET. Centro de Educaciones Médicas e Investigaciones Clínicas "Norberto Quirno". CEMIC-CONICET; Argentina Fil: Descalzi, Valeria. Fundación Favaloro; Argentina Fil: Anders, Margarita. Hospital Alemán; Argentina Fil: Mazzolini, Guillermo. Universidad Austral; Argentina Fil: Reggiardo, Virginia. Gobierno de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires. Hospital General de Agudos Doctor Cosme Argerich; Argentina Fil: Marciano, Sebastian. Hospital Italiano. Departamento de Medicina.; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Perazzo, Florencia. Hospital Británico de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Spina, Juan Carlos. Hospital Italiano; Argentina Fil: McCormack, Lucas. Hospital Alemán; Argentina Fil: Maraschio, Martín Alejandro. Hospital Privado de Cordoba; Argentina Fil: Lagues, Cecilia. Universidad Austral; Argentina Fil: Gadano, Adrián Carlos. Hospital Italiano. Departamento de Medicina.; Argentina Fil: Villamil, Federico. Hospital Italiano. Departamento de Medicina.; Argentina. Hospital Británico de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Silva, Marcelo. Universidad Austral. Hospital Universitario Austral; Argentina Fil: Cairo, Fernando. Hospital Británico de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Ameigeiras, Beatriz. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital General de Agudos "Ramos Mejía"; Argentina

INTRODUCTION Although the effectiveness of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) has been reported in real-world settings, predictive factors of treatment failure are lacking. Therefore, we sought to explore the baseline predictors of treatment response to DAAs. METHODS This was a prospective multicenter cohort study from the Latin American Liver Research Educational and Awareness Network (LALREAN) including patients who received DAA treatment from May 2016 to April 2019. A multivariate logistic regression model was conducted to identify variables associated with unachieved sustained virological response (SVR), defined as treatment failure (odds ratios [OR] and 95% confidence intervals [CIs]). RESULTS From 2167 patients (55.2% with cirrhosis) who initiated DAA therapy, 89.4% completed a full-course treatment (n = 1938). Median treatment duration was 12 weeks, and 50% received ribavirin. Definitive suspension due to intolerance or other causes was observed in only 1.0% cases (n = 20). Overall non-SVR12 was 4.5% (95% CI, 3.5-5.7). There were no significant differences in treatment failure according to HCV genotypes and the degree of fibrosis. Independently associated variables with DAA failure were liver function impairment according to the Child-Pugh score B OR, 2.09 (P = .06), Child-Pugh C OR, 11.7 (P

We report the first real-world prospective multicenter cohort study that evaluated the effectiveness and safety of original or generic sofosbuvir-based regimens in patients with chronic hepatitis C in Latin America. The main endpoints were assessment of sustained virological response and serious adverse events rates. A total of 321 patients with chronic hepatitis C treated with the following regimens were included: sofosbuvir plus daclatasvir for 12 (n = 34) or 24 (n = 135) weeks, sofosbuvir plus daclatasvir plus ribavirin for 12 (n = 84) or 24 (n = 56) weeks, or sofosbuvir plus ribavirin for 12 (n = 8) or 24 (n = 2) weeks. Patients received either original sofosbuvir (Sovaldi® , Gilead Sciences, n = 135) or generic sofosbuvir (Probirase® , Laboratorios RICHMOND, n = 184) which were randomly assigned by the National Ministry of Health. Overall, 292 (91%) patients had cirrhosis, 136 (42%) were treatment experienced, and 240 (75%) genotype 1. The overall sustained virological response was 90% (95% CI 86-93%); 91% (95% CI 84-95%) in patients who received Sovaldi® , and 89% (95% CI 84-93%) in patients who received Probirase® . Anemia was the most common adverse event and was reported in 52 (17%) patients. Bacterial infection, gastrointestinal bleeding, worsening of ascites or encephalopathy occurred in less than 5% of the patients. During the study, seven (2%) patients died, four of whom died of cirrhosis-related complications. In summary, we observed similar sustained virological response rates than prior studies, both in patients who received Sovaldi® or Probirase® . Serious adverse events were infrequent, in line with prior studies that included patients with cirrhosis treated with protease-inhibitor-free regimes.

Background: Predicting short-term mortality in patients with cirrhosis and bacterial infections is challenging. Aims: To compare the performance of various scores in predicting in-hospital mortality in this population. Methods: We performed an analysis of the multicenter prospective cohort study of patients with cirrhosis with bacterial infections throughout Argentina and Uruguay (clinicatrials.gov.NCT03919032). Patients were classified according to the CLIF criteria as having ACLF or mere acute decompensation (AD). We evaluated the performance of scores of liver disease and infection severity in predicting in-hospital mortality. MELD, MELD-Na, and Quick SOFA (qSOFA) were computed in all patients. CLIF-AD was only computed in patients without ACLF, and CLIF-ACLF only in patients with ACLF. We plotted ROC curves and estimated their area under the curve (AUROC). Results: We included 472 patients: 66% male, mean age 57 ± 12 years. Most frequent infections: SBP (30%) and urinary tract infection (25%). Overall, 332 (70%) patients had acute decompensation, and 140 (30%) ACLF. In-hospital mortality rate was 19%: 41% in patients with ACLF vs 10% in patients with AD (p

Background: Antibiotic de-escalation is considered a safe strategy that reduces costs and the risk of multi-drug resistant infections. However, its prevalence and associated factors in real-life practice were not reported in patients with cirrhosis in Latin-America. Aims: To estimate the prevalence of antibiotic de-escalation in patients with cirrhosis in real life-practice, and to explore its associated factors. Methods: We performed an analysis of the multicenter prospective cohort study of cirrhotic patients with bacterial infections throughout Argentina and Uruguay (clinicatrials.gov NCT03919032). Patients who died in the first 72 hs from the diagnosis of the infection were excluded. In accordance with guidelines, de-escalation was defined as changing the initially antimicrobials to a narrower spectrum regimen, or suspending one or more of the empirical antibiotics, according to culture results or to other clinical reasons, either in patients with culture-positive or culture-negative bacterial infections. We used inverse probability weighting (IPW) of having a culture-positive infection to estimate its causal effect on de-escalation. Results: We included 450 patients. Most frequent infections were SBP (30.4%), and urinary tract infection (12.9%). Overall, 243 (54%) infections were culture-positive, and 207 (46%) culture-negative. De-escalation was reported in 85 patients (18.9%: 95% CI 15%-22%) at a mean of 3.3 ± 2.4 days from treatment initiation and was more frequent in culture-positive than culture-negative infections (28.4% vs 7.7%, p< 0.001). The table shows the crude analyses of variables associated with de-escalation. Culture-positive infection was strongly and independently associated with de-escalation (ORIPW 6.08; 95% CI: 2.90-12.70; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Antibiotic de-escalation was reported in one-fifth of in-patients with cirrhosis. Given that having a culture-positive infection had a strong effect on de-escalation, efforts should be made to increase the likelihood of obtaining adequate culture samples in a timely manner.

Background & Aims Little is known about how a sustained virologic response (SVR) to treatment of hepatitis C virus infection with direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) affects patient mortality and development of new liver-related events. We aimed to evaluate the incidence of disease progression in patients treated with DAAs. Methods We performed a prospective multicenter cohort study of 1760 patients who received DAA treatment at 23 hospitals in Latin America, from May 1, 2016, through November 21, 2019. We excluded patients with a history of liver decompensation, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), or solid-organ transplantation. Disease progression after initiation of DAA therapy included any of the following new events: liver decompensation, HCC, liver transplantation, or death. Evaluation of variables associated with the primary outcome was conducted using a time-dependent Cox proportional hazards models. Results During a median follow-up period of 26.2 months (interquartile range, 15.3–37.5 mo), the overall cumulative incidence of disease progression was 4.1% (95% CI, 3.2%–5.1%), and after SVR assessment was 3.6% (95% CI, 2.7%–4.7%). Baseline variables associated with disease progression were advanced liver fibrosis (hazard ratio [HR], 3.4; 95% CI, 1.2–9.6), clinically significant portal hypertension (HR, 2.1; 95% CI, 1.2–3.8), and level of albumin less than 3.5 mg/dL (HR, 4.1; 95% CI, 2.3–7.6), adjusted for SVR achievement as a time covariable. Attaining an SVR reduced the risk of liver decompensation (HR, 0.3; 95% CI, 0.1–0.8; P = .016) and de novo HCC (HR, 0.2; 95% CI, 0.1%–0.8%; P = .02) in the overall cohort. Conclusions Treatment of hepatitis C virus infection with DAAs significantly reduces the risk of new liver-related complications and should be offered to all patients, regardless of disease stage. Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT03775798 .

There is scarce data pertaining to acute hepatitis C (aHC) infection in South America. We aimed to describe clinical characteristics and evolution of aHC in a South American cohort. A retrospective survey was conducted at 13 hepatology units. All patients ≥16 years old with aHC diagnosis were included. Demographic, clinical and outcome information were registered in a standardized ad hoc questionnaire. Sixty-four patients were included. The majority were middle-aged (median age: 46 years) and female (65.6%); most of them were symptomatic at diagnosis (79.6%). HCV-1 was the most prevalent genotype (69.2%). Five patients had liver failure: three cases of severe acute hepatitis, one case of fulminant hepatitis and one case of acute-on-chronic liver failure. Nosocomial exposure was the most prevalent risk factor. Evolution was assessed in 46 patients. In the untreated cohort, spontaneous resolution occurred in 45.8% and was associated with higher values of AST/ALT and with the absence of intermittent HCV RNA viremia (P = 0.01, 0.05, and 0.01, respectively). In the treated cohort, sustained virological response was associated with nosocomial transmission and early treatment initiation (P = 0.04 each). The prevalence of nosocomial transmission in this South-American cohort of aHC stresses the importance of following universal precautions to prevent HCV infection. J. Med. Virol. 89:276-283, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

We present a 26-year-old man who developed severe acute hepatitis after consumption of an Aloe vera tea. On admission, the patient showed characteristic biochemical and clinical features of acute hepatitis and liver failure. The patient reported that he had been drinking an Aloe vera tea 2-4 weeks before symptom onset. Other causes of acute hepatitis were excluded and the patient improved after withdrawal of the Aloe vera tea. Aloe vera should be considered as a possible cause in cases of acute hepatitis.

AIM: To evaluate pre-treatment factors associated with sustained virological response (SVR) in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 3 treated with peginterferon and ribavirin (RBV). METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed treatment naive, mono-infected HCV genotype 3 patients treated with peginterferon and RBV. Exclusion criteria included presence of other liver disease, alcohol consumption and African American or Asian ethnicity. The variables collected and compared between patients who achieved an SVR and patients who did not were as follows: gender, age, fibrosis stage, diabetes, body mass index, steatosis, INFL3 polymorphism, pre-treatment HCV-RNA, type of peginterferon, RBV dose and adherence. RESULTS: A total of 107 patients treated between June, 2004 and March, 2013 were included. Mean treatment duration was 25.1 (± 1.8) wk. Overall, 58% (62/107) of the patients achieved an SVR and 42% (45/107) did not. In the multivariate logistic regression analysis, pre-treatment HCV-RNA ≥ 600000 UI/mL (OR = 0.375, 95%CI: 0.153-0.919, P = 0.032) and advanced fibrosis (OR = 0.278, 95%CI: 0.113-0.684, P = 0.005) were significantly associated with low SVR rates. In patients with pre-treatment HCV-RNA ≥ 600000 UI/mL and advanced fibrosis, the probability of achieving an SVR was 29% (95%CI: 13.1-45.2). In patients with pre-treatment HCV-RNA < 600000 UI/mL and mild to moderate fibrosis, the probability of achieving an SVR was 81% (95%CI: 68.8-93.4). CONCLUSION: In patients with HCV genotype 3 infections the presence of advance fibrosis and high pre-treatment viral load might be associated with poor response to peginterferon plus RBV. These patients could benefit the most from new direct antiviral agents-based regimes. Fil: Marciano, Sebastián. Hospital Italiano; Argentina Fil: Borzi, Silvia Mabel. Gobierno de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Ministerio de Salud. Hospital Interzonal General de Agudos "prof. Dr. Rodolfo Rossi".; Argentina Fil: Dirchwolf, Melisa. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital de Infecciosas "Dr. Francisco Javier Muñiz"; Argentina Fil: Ridruejo, Ezequiel. Universidad Austral. Hospital Universitario Austral; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. CEMIC-CONICET. Centro de Educaciones Médicas e Investigaciones Clínicas "Norberto Quirno". CEMIC-CONICET; Argentina Fil: Mendizabal, Manuel. Universidad Austral. Hospital Universitario Austral; Argentina Fil: Bessone, Fernando. Sanatorio del Parque. Unidad de Hepatología; Argentina Fil: Sirotinsky, María Ester. Hepatosur group; Argentina Fil: Giunta, Diego Hernan. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Hospital Italiano; Argentina Fil: Trinks, Julieta. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Hospital Italiano; Argentina Fil: Olivera Sendra, Pablo Andrés. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. CEMIC-CONICET. Centro de Educaciones Médicas e Investigaciones Clínicas "Norberto Quirno". CEMIC-CONICET; Argentina Fil: Galdame, Omar Andres. Hospital Italiano; Argentina Fil: Silva, Marcelo Oscar. Universidad Austral. Hospital Universitario Austral; Argentina. Hospital Italiano; Argentina Fil: Fainboim, Hugo. Gobierno de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Ministerio de Salud. Hospital Interzonal General de Agudos "prof. Dr. Rodolfo Rossi".; Argentina Fil: Gadano, Adrián Carlos. Hospital Italiano; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina