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Multicenter Study
. 2023 Jul 13;23(1):468.
doi: 10.1186/s12879-023-08169-0.

Retrieval of HCV patients lost to follow-up as a strategy for Hepatitis C Microelimination: results of a Brazilian multicentre study

Maria Lucia Gomes Ferraz  1 , Antonio Ricardo Cardia Ferraz de Andrade  2 , Gustavo Henrique Santos Pereira  3   4 , Liana Codes  5   6 , Paulo Lisboa Bittencourt  5   6
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Retrieval of HCV patients lost to follow-up as a strategy for Hepatitis C Microelimination: results of a Brazilian multicentre study

Maria Lucia Gomes Ferraz et al. BMC Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: Several HCV patients in Brazil were lost to follow-up (LTFU) in the last two decades before achievement of sustained virological response (SVR). Strategies to recall those diagnosed but untreated patients have been used elsewhere with different success rates.

Aim: To identify and retrieve LTFU patients in order to offer them the treatment with the current highly effective direct acting antiviral agents (DAAs).

Methods: Registries ofall HCV patients from three large reference centers in Brazil were retrospectively reviewed to identify those with no registry of SVR. Reasons for non-achievement of SVR were elicited in HCV-RNA + patients. All patients who were not treated or cured were contacted to offer the therapy with DAAs.

Results: 10,289 HCV patients (50% males, mean age 52 ± 11 years) were identified. Only 4,293 (41.7%) had been successfully treated previously. From the remaining 5,996 most were LTFU (59%), were not treated for other reasons (14.7%) or were non-responders (26.3%). After revision of the charts 3,559 were considered eligible to be retrieved. The callback success of phone calls was 18%, 13% to cellphone messages (SMS or WhatsApp) and 7% to regular mail. Five-hundred sixty patients had been already treatedor were on treatment and 234 were reported to be dead or transplanted. Finally, 201 had made an appointment and initiated antiviral treatment.

Conclusion: Even considering the low callback rate, retrieval of LTFU patients was shown to be an important strategy forhepatitis C micro-elimination in Brazil.

Keywords: DAA treatment; Hepatitis C; Micro-elimination; Non-SVR.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Characteristics of 10,289 anti−HCV positive patients retrospectively found in three reference centers in Brazil and the status of hepatitis C treatment
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Retrieval flow-chart of 1818 HCV-patients successfully contacted for re-evaluation in three reference centers in Brazil
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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