Rapid Development of hepatocellular carcinoma after eradication of hepatitis C virus with directly acting antiviral treatment

Hepatitis C is a major risk factor for the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), arising typically on a background of liver cirrhosis. Treatment of hepatitis C has been revolutionized by the addition of oral direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) with sustained virological response (SVR) rates above 90%. There is a recent concern under debate about the increased risk of early HCC recurrence in patients with chronic hepatitis C who were treated with direct-acting antivirals. Nonetheless, these reports mostly focused on patients who were cirrhotic and were already treated for HCC. We report 4 cases of treatment naive, chronic hepatitis C patients who were treated with DAAs and rapidly developed infiltrative HCC despite achieving SVR. Moreover, in our scenario, one of the patients appeared clinically non-cirrhotic until he developed HCC.