From the Editor's desk...: June 2016

TREATED HEPATITIS C VIRUS (HCV) CIRRHOTIC PATIENTS CAN HAVE NORMAL LIFE EXPECTANCY: The fact that a sustained virologic response (SVR) is associated with an improved outcome of chronic HCV infection, has been demonstrated in several studies by comparing patients with and without SVR. The study by Bruno et al., however, is the first to demonstrate that patients with compensated cirrhosis who achieve SVR will have a life expectancy similar to that of the sex- and age-matched general population. Patients were enrolled in historical prospective cohort studies from tertiary referral centers from Northern and Southern Italy. They were representative of the Italian general population, allowing for adequate comparison of patients long-term 10- and 20-year survival with national data. Intriguing observations of a trend to worse survival was observed in patients with compensated cirrhosis Child-Pugh class A6 as compared to A5. The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) during follow-up after SVR was also not negligible, underscoring the need for early treatment initiation, hereby preventing cirrhosis development as the main HCC determinant.