%0 Journal Article
%T One-step diagnosis strategy together with multidisciplinary telematics referral perform an effective approach for identifying and treating patients with active Hepatitis C infection.
%A Torrecillas M
%A Gómez-Muñoz N
%A Ocete MD
%A Cuevas PR
%A Madrid MD
%A González EO
%A Cardona CG
%A García-Deltoro M
%J Ann Hepatol
%V 27
%N 1
%D Sep 2021 24
%M 34571265
%F 3.388
%R 10.1016/j.aohep.2021.100542
%X <B>OBJECTIVE: </B>Implementation of a one-step strategy for diagnosis of active Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection would encourage the early diagnosis and reduce the time to access antiviral treatments. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of a HCV one-step diagnosis compared to the traditional two-step protocol in terms of the time required for patients to be seen by specialists and the time taken to start antiviral treatment.<BR><B>METHODS: </B>A comparative study was carried out to assess two diagnostic algorithms (one-step and two-step) for active HCV infection. Serological markers were quantified using the same serum sample to determine both anti-HCV antibodies (HCV-Ab) and HCV core antigen (HCV-cAg) by Architect i2000 SR kit. In this period, a multidisciplinary procedure was started for telematics referral of viremic patients.<BR><B>RESULTS: </B>One-step approach reduced the time required for patient HCV diagnosis, referral to a specialist, access to treatment, and eliminated the loss of patients to follow-up. Significant differences were observed between one-step and two-step diagnosis methods in the time required for patients to be seen by a specialist (18 days [Interquartile range (IQR) = 14-42] versus 107 days [IQR = 62-148]) and for the initiation of treatment (54 days [IQR = 43-75] versus 200 days [IQR = 116-388]), mainly for patients with advanced fibrosis (35 days [IQR = 116-388] versus 126 days [IQR = 152-366]).<BR><B>CONCLUSIONS: </B>Use of HCV-cAg has proven to be a useful tool for screening patients with active hepatitis C. The development of a multidisciplinary protocol for the communication of results improved the efficiency of the care process.