Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jun 21, 2021; 27(23): 3223-3237
Published online Jun 21, 2021. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v27.i23.3223
Assessment of liver disease in patients with chronic hepatitis C and unhealthy alcohol use
Daniel Fuster, Xavier García-Calvo, Paola Zuluaga, Ferran Bolao, Robert Muga
Daniel Fuster, Xavier García-Calvo, Paola Zuluaga, Robert Muga, Department of Internal Medicine, Addiction Unit, Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Badalona 08916, Spain
Ferran Bolao, Department of Internal Medicine, Hospital Universitari Bellvitge, Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge (IDIBELL), L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona 08907, Spain
Author contributions: Fuster D and García-Calvo X performed the literature review; Fuster D drafted the initial version of the manuscript; Muga R and García-Calvo X revised the initial version of the manuscript and provided feed-back and suggestions; all authors revised and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Supported by Institute of Health Carlos III, No. RETICS RD16/0017/0003, No. PI17/00174, and No. PI20/00883; Institute of Health Carlos III, Juan Rodes Program, No. JR20/00016; Institute of Health Carlos III, Sara Borrell Program, No. CD19/00019; Institute of Health Carlos III, Physician Intensification Program, No. INT19/00026; National Plan on Drugs, Spain, No. 2018/020, and No. 2020/024, Spain; and Autonomous Government of Catalonia, Spain, Consolidated Research Group, No. 2017-SGR-316.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No conflict declared.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Daniel Fuster, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Staff Physician, Department of Internal Medicine, Addiction Unit, Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Carretera de Canyet s/n, Badalona 08916, Spain. dfuster.germanstrias@gencat.cat
Received: February 9, 2021
Peer-review started: February 9, 2021
First decision: February 27, 2021
Revised: March 11, 2021
Accepted: May 10, 2021
Article in press: May 10, 2021
Published online: June 21, 2021
Processing time: 128 Days and 17.3 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: In this review, we discuss current knowledge around the use of non-invasive methods to assess underlying liver disease in patients with hepatitis C virus infection and/or unhealthy alcohol use. A timely diagnosis of liver disease is of the outmost importance to avoid progression to decompensated liver disease and liver cancer. Antiviral treatment and abstinence from alcohol use are cornerstones of clinical care for these patients.