Interferon-Free Regimen: Equally Effective in Treatment Naive and Experienced HCV Patients.

INTRODUCTION AND AIM: Interferon-free regimen has been reported to be highly efficient in treatment of HCV infection, including patients with compensated cirrhosis. We compared the efficacy of Ombitasvir, Paritaprevir, Ritonavir, Dasabuvir and Ribavirin (OBT/PTV/r, with DSV and RBV) therapy in patients with chronic HCV genotype 1b infection and compensated cirrhosis with and without prior treatment experience with pegylated interferon and ribavirin (IFN/RBV). MATERIAL AND METHODS: A prospective two-center study was conducted in Mures County Hospital and Brasov County Hospital, Romania in period November 2015-July 2016. Both treatment naïve and PegIFN/RBV experienced patients with chronic HCV genotype 1b infection received 12 weeks of OBT/PTV/r, with DSV and RBV. Sustained virologic response 12 weeks after the treatment and eventual discontinuation of therapy due to adverse events were assessed in order to estimate safety and efficiency of therapeutic regimen. RESULTS: Fifty nine patients were included in study, 35 (59.3%) of them were previously treated with IFN/RBV. Forty four (74.5%) patients were previously diag-nosed with cirrhosis Child Pugh score 5, while 15 (25.4%) with Child Pugh score 6. All 59 patients achieved a SVR12 of 100% and one patient from treatment naïve cohort discontinued the therapy due to hyperbilirubinemia and encephalopathy. However viral load assessed at 12 weeks after discontinuation of therapy in this patient was undetectable. Conclusion An all-oral regimen of co-for-mulated OBT/PTV/r with DSV and RBV results in high rate of sustained virologic response at post-treatment week 12 among HCV GT1b infected patients associated with compensated cirrhosis, regardless of previous treatment experience with PegIFN/RBV.

An epidemiological study of gastric cancer in the adult population referred to gastroenterology medical services in Romania -- a multicentric study.

AIM: The Romanian Society of Digestive Endoscopy proposed a multicentric study to evaluate the prevalence of gastric cancer in the adult population referred to gastroenterology medical services, and also the demographic features of this pathology. METHODS: . The study was carried out over the period 1 January 2003 - 31 December 2003 in 11 academic centers in Romania, specialized in gastroenterology, with a uniform national distribution (all areas in the country were represented) and with adequate diagnostic and therapeutic facilities. All centers used identical definition criteria and reported the data using the same protocol and a Microsoft Excel database. RESULTS: During the study period, 640 cases of gastric cancer were reported. In the first stage, the prevalence in each geographical region was calculated. The national prevalence of gastric cancer in the population referred to gastro-intestinal endoscopy services was 2.9 per 100,000 inhabitants over 18 years of age. The demographic data of the studied group were the following: 66.4% men, 33.6% women, 51.7% urban population, 48.3% rural population, mean age 63.07 +/- 12.10 years. The most frequent indications for upper digestive endoscopy were: dyspepsia, weight loss and appetite. 88% of patients had no history of disease with a high risk of gastric cancer. The majority of patients (95.5 %) had advanced gastric cancer at the time of diagnosis, located in the gastric body (40.1 %) and in the antrum (33.8 %). According to Borrmann's classification, 31.4% had type I fungating gastric cancer and 32.1% had type III ulcero-infiltrative gastric cancer. According to the Lauren classification, the most frequent histological type was intestinal adenocarcinoma (63.8 %). Early gastric cancer was found in 4.4% of patients. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of gastric cancer in the population referred to digestive endoscopy services in Romania is 2.9%, with relatively wide variations at a national level. The study confirms the fact that Romania is a country with a low prevalence of gastric cancer, in accordance with the literature data published for the south of Europe.