Background: Patients with HCV-related liver disease usually display thrombocytopenia. Direct Acting Antivirals decrease mortality and clinical complications in these patients. There are no data on the long-term effect of Direct Acting Antivirals on platelet count.

Aims: To evaluate the effects of Direct Acting Antivirals on platelet count of patients with chronic HCV-related liver disease.

Methods: 352 patients (60% men, median age 65 years, IQR 55 – 74) treated with Direct Acting Antivirals between January 2015 and December 2016 were included in this study (Table 1). Platelet count was monitored at the end of treatment and at 1, 2 , 3 years follow-up. Data were expressed as means±standard deviation (SD) or medians with interquartile ranges (IQR) as appropriate and compared using tests for analysis of variance.

Results: Platelet count increased significantly at the end of treatment (Table 2) and remained higher than the baseline up to the 3 years of follow-up. The percent increase in platelet count was independent of the baseline platelet count, as it was similar in patients subdiveded in 4 categories of platelet count: normal platelet count (>150×109/L), mild thrombocytopenia (100-149×109/L), moderate thrombocytopenia (50-99×109/L), severe thrombocytopenia (0-49×109/L). In patients with moderate and severe thrombocytopenias the platelet count kept increasing during the 3 years of follow-up (Table 2, p< 0.05). At 3 years, 75% of patients with severe thrombocytopenia, 68% of patients with moderate thrombocytopenia and 70% of patients with mild thrombocytopenia switched to a higher platelet count category.

Conclusions: Therapy with Direct Acting Antivirals was associated with an increase in platelet count, which persisted for 3 years.

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ISTH Congress Abstracts - https://abstracts.isth.org/abstract/platelet-count-variation-in-a-cohort-of-patients-with-chronic-hcv-related-liver-disease-treated-with-direct-acting-antivirals/