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- Title
Staging liver fibrosis after severe yellow fever with ultrasound elastography in Brazil: A six-month follow-up study.
- Authors
Neves, Yuri Costa Sarno; Castro-Lima, Victor Augusto Camarinha de; Solla, Davi Jorge Fontoura; Ogata, Vivian Simone de Medeiros; Pereira, Fernando Linhares; Araujo, Jordana Machado; Nastri, Ana Catharina Seixas; Ho, Yeh-Li; Chammas, Maria Cristina
- Abstract
Background: Yellow fever (YF) is a hemorrhagic disease caused by an arbovirus endemic in South America, with recent outbreaks in the last years. Severe cases exhibit fulminant hepatitis, but there are no studies regarding its late-term effects on liver parenchyma. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine the frequency and grade of liver fibrosis in patients who recovered from severe YF and to point out potential predictors of this outcome. Methodology/Principal findings: We followed-up 18 patients who survived severe YF during a recent outbreak (January-April 2018) in Brazil using ultrasound (US) with shear-wave elastography (SWE) at 6 months after symptoms onset. No patient had previous history of liver disease. Median liver stiffness (LS) was 5.3 (4.6–6.4) kPa. 2 (11.1%) patients were classified as Metavir F2, 1 (8.3%) as F3 and 1 (8.3%) as F4; these two last patients had features of cardiogenic liver congestion on Doppler analysis. Age and cardiac failure were associated with increased LS (p = 0.036 and p = 0.024, respectively). SAPS-3 at ICU admission showed a tendency of association with significant fibrosis (≥ F2; p = 0.053). 7 patients used sofosbuvir in a research protocol, of which none showed liver fibrosis (p = 0.119). Conclusions/Significance: We found a low frequency of liver fibrosis in severe YF survivors. US with SWE may have a role in the follow up of patients of age and / or with comorbidities after hospital discharge in severe YF, a rare but reemergent disease. Author summary: Yellow fever (YF) is a viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes and represents an important health problem in countries of South America and Africa, with recent outbreaks in the past few years. Severe cases lead to fulminant hepatitis and death; it has also been reported that surviving patients tend to recover / "regenerate" the liver after the acute phase of the disease. However, there are no prior investigations on this matter. Thus, we followed up a group of previously healthy patients who had severe YF 6 months after the initial symptoms, using a non-invasive ultrasound technique of estimating the liver fibrosis (scar tissue) grade, called elastography. In our findings, we report a low frequency of liver fibrosis. Thus, we concluded that patients who had severe YF are not likely to have late-term liver fibrosis or cirrhosis. Nevertheless, there are some specific individuals (older or with chronic diseases) that might need further evaluation.
- Subjects
BRAZIL; SOUTH America; YELLOW fever; ULTRASONIC imaging; FIBROSIS; LIVER; CIRRHOSIS of the liver; ARBOVIRUS diseases
- Publication
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 2021, Vol 15, Issue 7, p1
- ISSN
1935-2727
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1371/journal.pntd.0009594