Hepatitis C virus: Virology, diagnosis and management ofantiviral therapy

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infects approximately 170 million individuals worldwide. Prevention of HCV infection complications is based on antiviral therapy with the combination of pegylated interferon alfa and ribavirin. The use of serological and virological tests has become essential in the management of HCV infection in order to diagnose infection, guide treatment decisions and assess the virological response to antiviral therapy. Anti- HCV antibody testing and HCV RNA testing are used to diagnose acute and chronic hepatitis C. The HCV genotype should be systematically determined before treatment, as it determines the indication, the duration of treatment, the dose of ribavirin and the virological monitoring procedure. HCV RNA monitoring during therapy is used to tailor treatment duration in HCV genotype 1 infection, and molecular assays are used to assess the end-of-treatment and, most importantly the sustained virological response, i.e. the endpoint of therapy.

Values of high-resolution computed tomography and pulmonary function tests in managements of patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection

AIM:To investigate pulmonary involvement via pulmonary function tests (PFT) and high-resolution computed tomocjraphy (HRCT) in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. METHODS:Thirty-four patients with chronic HCV infection without diagnosis of any pulmonary diseases and 10 healthy cases were enrolled in the study,PFT and HRCT were performed in all cases. RESULTS:A decrease lower than 80% of the predicted value was detected in vital capacity in 9/34 patients,in forced expiratory volume in one second in 8/34 patients,and in forced expiratory flow 25-75 in 15/34 patients,respectively.Carbon monoxide diffusing capacity (DLCO) was decreased in 26/34 patients.Findings of interstitial pulmonary involvement were detected in the HRCT of 16/34 patients.Significant difference was found between controls and patients with HCV infection in findings of HRCT (X^2=4.7,P=0.003).Knodell histological activity index (KHAI) of 28/34 patients in whom liver biopsy was applied was 9.0±4.7.HRCT findings,PFT values and DLCO were not affected by KHAI in patients with HCV infection.In these patients,all the parameters were related with age. CONCLUSION:We suggest that chronic hepatitis C virus infection may cause pulmonary interstitial involvement without evident respiratory symptoms.

Hemodynamics in the portal vein evaluated by pulse wave Doppler ultrasonography in patients with chronic hepatitis C treated with interferon

AIM: To employ pulse wave Doppler ultrasonography to evaluate the changes in portal blood flow velocity in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) receiving interferon (IFN) treatment. METHODS: The subjects in this study were 14 patients (13 men and l woman) with CHC who received IFN treatment. Portal blood flow velocity was measured in the vessels at the porta hepatis at four time points: before IFN administration (pre-IFN), 2 wk after the start of administration (wk 2), 24 wk after the start of administration (wk 24, i.e., the end of IFN administration), and 24 wk after the end of administration (wk 48). RESULTS: The patients with CHC in whom IFN treatment resulted in complete elimination or effective elimination of viruses showed a significant increase in portal blood flow velocity at the end of IFN treatment compared with that before IFN treatment. In contrast, when IFN was ineffective, no significant increase in portal blood flow velocity was observed at wk 24 or 48 compared with the pre-IFN value. In addition, the patients with CHC in whom IFN was ineffective showed significantly lower portal blood flow velocity values than control subjects at all measurement time points. CONCLUSION: Pulse wave Doppler ultrasonography is a noninvasive and easily performed method for evaluating the effects of IFN treatment in patients with CHC. This technique is useful for measuring portal blood flow velocity before and 24 wk after IFN administration in order to evaluate the changes over time, thus assessing the effectiveness of IFN treatment.

Is laparoscopy an advantage in the diagnosis of cirrhosis in chronic hepatitis C virus infection?

AIM:To evaluate the potential of laparoscopy in the diagnosis of cirrhosis and outcome of interferon treatment in HCV-infected patients. METHODS:In this retrospective study,diagnostic laparoscopy with laparoscopic liver biopsy was performed in 72 consecutive patients with chronic HCV infection.The presence or absence of drrhosis was analyzed macroscopically by laparoscopy and microscopically by liver biopsy specimens.Clinical and laboratory data and outcome of interferon-alfa treatment were compared between cirrhotic and noncirrhotic patients. RESULTS:Laparoscopically,cirrhosis was seen in 29.2 % (21/72)and non-cirrhosis in 70.8 %(51/72)of patients. Cirrhotic patients were significantly older with a significant longer duration of HCV infection than noncirrhotic patients. Laboratory parameters(AST,y-GT,y-globulin fraction)were measured significantly higher as well as significantly lower (prothrombin index,platelet count)in cirrhotic patients than in non-cirrhotic patients.Histologically,cirrhosis was confirmed in 11.1%(8/72)and non cirrhosis in 88.9 %(64/72).Patients with macroscopically confirmed cirrhosis(n=21)showed histologically cirrhosis in 38.2 %(8/21)and histologically non- cirrhosis in 61.9 %(13/21).In contrast,patients with macroscopically non-cirrhosis(n=51)showed histologically non cirrhosis in all cases(51/51).Thirty-nine of 72 patients were treated with interferon-alfa,resulting in 35.9 %(14/39) patients with sustained response and 64.1%(25/39)with non response.Non-responders showed significantly more macroscopically cirrhosis than sustained responders.In contrast,there were no significant histological differences between non-responders and sustained responders. CONCLUSION:Diagnostic laparoscopy is more accurate than liver biopsy in recognizing cirrhosis in patients with chronic HCV infection.Liver biopsy is the best way to assess inflammatory grade and fibrotic stage.The invasive marker for staging,prognosis and management,and treatment outcome of chronic HCV-infected patients need further research and dinical thals.Laparoscopy should be performed for recognition of drrhosis if this parameter is found to be of prognostic and therapeutic relevance in patients with chronic HCV infection.