الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major public health problem that can result in liver cirrhosis, HCC and in turn liver transplantation. Egypt has the highest countrywide prevalence of (HCV) in the world. The probability that a person with chronic HCV will develop cirrhosis in the first 10-20 years varies from 5-25%. This study was conducted in the period, from October 2010 to October 2011, on one hundred and sixty nine patients with chronic HCV, sixty six patients with Schistosomiasis, diagnosed by positive Schistosomal serology, ultrasonographic hepatic periportal fibrosis and history suggestive of Schistosomal infection as contact with water canals and anti Schistosomiasis treatment, and other one hundred and three patients with negative schistosomal serology. They were clinically assessed and had laboratory investigations before treatment. We aimed at evaluating the effect of Schistosomiasis and fibrosis stages on response to interferon and ribavirin therapy in patients with chronic HCV. We found that the viral load is more significant in patients co infected with schistosomiasis than those with HCV alone. Concerning hematological complications during treatment, we found that thrombocytopenia is significantly increased in patients with co infection than those with mono infection. Also liver enzymes show a significant increase in co infected patients than those with mono infection. Concerning fibrosis stages, our study showed that fibrosis stage grade 3 is significantly increased in co infected patients than mono infected patients, but fibrosis stage grade 0 and 2 is significantly increased in mono infected patients than co infected ones. Concerning SVR, our study showed that it is more significantly increased in the mono infected patients than in mixed cases. In univariate analysis, the viral load, platelet count, liver enzymes, fibrosis stage grades and anti schistosomal antibodies were significant for predicting SVR. In multivariate logistic regressive analysis, the viral load, platelet count, fibrosis stage grades and anti schistosomal antibodies were significant for predicting SVR. In conclusion, patients with higher fibrosis stages and schistosomiasis are associated with failure of response to treatment compared to those without schistosomiasis and with lower grades of fibrosis. |