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INTRODUCTION: There are no strong data regarding the treatment with biologics (especially for the most recent anti-IL-17 and anti-IL-23 drugs) of patients with psoriasis and concomitant viral hepatitis. We assessed the safety of biologic drugs in patients with psoriasis who are seropositive for hepatitis B or C and did not receive antiviral prophylaxis. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective single-center study. The efficacy of biologic treatments was evaluated by assessing the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) score during all visits, for a minimum follow-up of 52 weeks. All patients were evaluated by a hepatologist before starting the treatment. They were monitored for reactivation of viral hepatitis. RESULTS: Twenty patients had positive markers of hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV). Seventeen patients had positive markers of HBV infection, and four patients had antibodies for HCV (one patient had serologic evidence of both infections). Anti-IL-23 biologics were the most used in our population, with risankizumab being the most prescribed drug. No patient had evidence of viral reactivation during our study. Study limitations include its retrospective nature and our inclusion of patients with different serological status receiving different biologic drugs. CONCLUSION: Biologic therapies (including anti-IL-23 drugs) appear to be safe in patients seropositive for HCV or HBV core antibody who did not receive antiviral prophylaxis.
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Sarcopenia has been associated with lower overall survival in patients with cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) undergoing surgical resection, TACE, TARE, or transplantation. This monocentric study evaluated the prognostic significance of sarcopenia in patients affected by HCC who received bland transarterial embolization (TAE) therapy, by analyzing its impact on survival and treatment-related complications. All consecutive patients who underwent the 1st TAE between March 1st 2011 and July 1st 2019 in our Institution were retrospectively studied. To evaluate sarcopenia, the skeletal muscle index (SMI) was calculated by normalizing the cross-sectional muscle area at the level of L3 on an abdominal CT scan prior to embolization (cm2) by patient height (m2). SMI cut-off values for sarcopenia were considered ≤ 39 cm2/m2 for women and ≤55 cm2/m2 for men. Data about age, gender, body mass index (BMI), underlying liver disease, liver function, MELD score, Child-Pugh score, multifocal disease, performance status, previous interventions, length of stay (LOS), complications after the procedure, readmission rate within 30 days, survival time from TAE and total number and type of TAE received following the first procedure were collected. From 2011 to 2019, 142 consecutive patients underwent 305 TAEs. Observation time ranged from 1.4 to 100.5 months (median 20.1 SD = 22). Sarcopenia at baseline was present in 121 (85%) patients. Overall 87 (61.2%) patients died during follow-up with survival rates at 1-, 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-year of 71%, 41%, 22%, 16% and 11% respectively. After multivariate analysis sarcopenia (HR = 2.22, p = 0.046), previous ablation/resection (HR = 0.51, p = 0.005) and multifocal disease (HR = 1.84, p = 0.02) were associated with reduced survival. Sarcopenia did not influence the safety of TAE in terms of LOS (2 days vs 1.5 days, p = 0.2), early complications rate (8% vs 5%, p = 0.5) and readmission rate within 30 days (7% vs 5%, p = 0.74). Sarcopenia, estimated by the L3SMI method, is an emerging prognostic factor in patients with HCC undergoing bland TAE therapy as it is associated with increased mortality, without impairing the safety of the locoregional treatment. Measures to ameliorate the SMI, such as nutritional support and physical exercise, should be evaluated in clinical trials for HCC patients receiving liver embolization to determine their impact on overall survival.