{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]],"date-time":"2026-07-01T02:45:21Z","timestamp":1782873921859,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"Sociedad Argentina de Gastroenterologia","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,30]],"date-time":"2026-06-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1782777600000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["ACTA"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background and aims. Many anti-HCV-positive individuals in Argentina remain lost to follow-up. We assessed a multicenter re-engagement program using complementary case-finding strategies, described the care cascade, and evaluated treatment outcomes.\nMethods. Five public hospitals implemented two strategies: laboratory-based screening at a tertiary hospital and its primary\/secondary network, and combined medical record\/laboratory searches at four tertiary hospitals to identify prior anti-HCV-positive individuals. Lost to follow-up was operationally defined as no documented hepatology care, HCV RNA testing, or antiviral treatment within participating institutions for \u2265 12 months. A two-visit pathway was offered. Primary outcomes were re-engagement, treatment initiation, and sustained virologic response at 12 weeks (SVR12); secondary outcomes were fibrosis stage and SVR4-SVR12 concordance. As an exploratory objective, all-cause mortality was assessed in the laboratory cohort using conditional logistic regression.\nResults. Across 206,053 data sources (106,917 laboratory samples and 99,136 medical records), 3,334 individuals were anti-HCV positive. After excluding patients who had been cured (n = 741), were deceased (n = 419), or had undergone liver transplantation (n = 25), 2,149 were potentially eligible for re-engagement, of whom 422 (19.6%) were successfully re-engaged. Significant fibrosis (\u2265 F2 by FibroScan\u00ae) was present in 311 patients (73.7%). Antiviral therapy was initiated in 224 patients, with sofosbuvir\/velpatasvir prescribed in 70.1% and glecaprevir\/pibrentasvir in 29.9%. SVR12 was achieved in 97.9% of treated patients. In a subset of 112 patients, SVR4 showed 100% concordance with SVR12. In the laboratory cohort, anti-HCV positivity was independently associated with higher all-cause mortality (OR 4.75; 95% CI 3.82\u20135.94).\nConclusions. Complementary case-finding strategies combined with a simplified two-visit care pathway enabled effective re-engagement and timely treatment, achieving near-universal virologic cure. This scalable model supports hepatitis C micro-elimination across public hospital networks.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.52787\/agl.v56i2.604","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]],"date-time":"2026-07-01T02:05:27Z","timestamp":1782871527000},"page":"174-195","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Re-Engagement of Hepatitis C Patients Lost to Follow-Up: A Multicenter Study from Argentina"],"prefix":"10.52787","volume":"56","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2480-417X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fernando","family":"Cairo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0001-9929-2060","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nicol\u00e1s","family":"Dom\u00ednguez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Andrea","family":"Curia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-7722-6086","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Luc\u00eda","family":"Navarro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5957-7213","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Manuel","family":"Barbero","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0003-0986-8228","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ayelen","family":"Trillo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4975-3359","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Daniel","family":"Calfunao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rodrigo","family":"Belloni","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anselmo Adri\u00e1n","family":"Bologna","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0000-1591-6976","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Estefan\u00eda","family":"Burgos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-6165-5429","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Melina","family":"Susana","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9983-3982","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Silvia Mabel","family":"Borzi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Omar Andr\u00e9s","family":"Galdame","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Esteban","family":"Gonz\u00e1lez Ballerga","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-6374-6837","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ignacio","family":"Roca","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"30608","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,30]]},"container-title":["Acta Gastroenterol\u00f3gica Latinoamericana"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/actaojs.org.ar\/ojs\/index.php\/acta\/article\/download\/604\/983","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/actaojs.org.ar\/ojs\/index.php\/acta\/article\/download\/604\/984","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/actaojs.org.ar\/ojs\/index.php\/acta\/article\/download\/604\/991","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/actaojs.org.ar\/ojs\/index.php\/acta\/article\/download\/604\/992","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/actaojs.org.ar\/ojs\/index.php\/acta\/article\/download\/604\/991","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]],"date-time":"2026-07-01T02:05:28Z","timestamp":1782871528000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/actaojs.org.ar\/ojs\/index.php\/acta\/article\/view\/604"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,30]]},"references-count":0,"journal-issue":{"issue":"2","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,30]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.52787\/agl.v56i2.604","relation":{},"ISSN":["2469-1119"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2469-1119","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,30]]}}}