The
Most comprehensive Liver Disease Treatment and Cancer Care in New
Jersey:
Institute of Medicine releases:
Hepatitis and Liver Cancer:
A National Strategy for Prevention and Control of
Hepatitis B and C
Phase
IIb Lambda Interferon
(IL-29) clinical trial is
now recruiting patients with active hepatitis C infection who have
never been treated (treatment naive)
The
number of people with complications from chronic liver disease,
particularly chronic viral hepatitis C and B, will increase 2-3
fold by the years 2015-2020. The main complications are
liver failure
and liver cancer. Currently there are about 4,000,000 people with
chronic hepatitis C and 1,250,000 people with chronic hepatitis B
in the United States. In New Jersey there are about 135,000 people
with hepatitis C and 65,000 people with hepatitis B. This will put
overwhelming and unachievable demands on the need for liver
transplantation and cause the number of people diagnosed with liver
cancer to possibly double over the next 10-15 years. This does not
include the additional health burden of obesity induced fatty liver disease and steatohepatitis
related cirrhosis, which is estimated to surpass chronic viral
hepatitis as the leading cause of cirrhosis and liver failure by
the years 2020-2025. By that time there will be at least 2,500,000
people in the United States with cirrhosis.
The "Age Wave" of Chronic Liver Disease in the United States
The majority of people with hepatitis C and B virus infection, were exposed during the 1970-1990's. Currently there are about 5,000,000-6,000,000 people with active infection in the United States. As a result by 2020 large numbers of these people will have been infected for 20-30 years. Of people with chronic hepatitis C and/or B infection over many years, 20%-25% will develop cirrhosis. These people are at high risk for liver cancer and liver failure. Due to epidemic levels of obesity, 3 out of 10 people in the United State (100,000,000 people) have "Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease" or NAFLD. NAFLD causes inflammation in the liver, or "Steatohepatitis" in 5% of people with NAFLD. Of people with "Steatohepatitis", up to 30% will develop cirrhosis. These people are also at risk for liver cancer and failure.
United States Immigration Trends
The United States still remains a beacon of hope for immigrants. As such, as thousands of people arrive each year, so do endemic rates of hepatitis B and C infection.
The Sharp Rise of Patient Progressing to liver failure in the United States
Over the next 10-15 years the number of patients with liver failure and cancer with continue to increase rapidly (black line), while the number of transplantable livers will stay relatively unchanged (red line). This will cause the number of people dying from liver disease to dramatically increase. Liver failure and cancer from "Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease" or NAFLD will be the leading cause for need of a liver transplant by 2020-2025.
There are currently over 60,000 people in New Jersey with cirrhosis. For each person transplanted, there are 500-1000 people with cirrhosis. These people are at continued risk for liver cancer and liver failure. As the number of organ donors remain mostly unchanged, the rapidly growing number of people progressing to liver failure will cause more patients to die while awaiting liver transplant. Currently the average cost of a liver transplant is $285,000 to $315,000. Although liver transplant is life saving, there is a great need to improve early diagnosis and treatment to more effectively deal with this epidemic.
Early diagnosis of chronic viral hepatitis allows for an opportunity to eradicate infection and reduce the risk of liver failure and liver cancer. Unfortunately 70-80 percent of people with hepatitis C or B are not diagnosed. Although progress has been made in anti-viral treatment, only 50% of patients treated are able to eradicate their virus. In this regard, there is a compelling need to increase early diagnosis and to enroll patients in clinical trials to find better treatments to cure hepatitis C and B infection.
Similarly, 70-80 percent of patients diagnosed with liver cancer are not curable, and will die within 5 years of being diagnosed. The biggest barrier to improving survival is most people are diagnosed too late. Thus, there is also a great need to identify people in need of routine liver cancer screening.
Please contact me if I can assist you with any project to combat liver disease in your area.
Andrew N. de la Torre MD
Founder of Comprehensive Liver Care of New Jersey
Dedicated to the founders of the Sammy Davis Jr. Liver Institute, who dedicated their lives to the eradication of liver disease regardless of race, ethnicity or income.