1. Home>
2. Specialties>
3. General Medicine>
4. Summary and Comment

ROLE OF HEPATITIS C VIRUS IN CHRONIC LIVER DISEASE.

It is now well documented that most cases of hepatitis B-negative post-transfusion hepatitis are caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV). An important remaining area of inquiry is HCV's role in various chronic liver diseases. These researchers addressed this question by performing hepatitis C antibody assays on frozen serum from 261 hepatitis B-negative patients who presented with chronic liver disease between 1977 and 1990.

Anti-HCV was present in 69 percent of the 55 patients with post-transfusion hepatitis. Among patients with chronic non-A, non-B hepatitis unrelated to transfusion, 81 percent of intravenous drug users and 52 percent of persons without risk factors were positive for anti-HCV. Anti-HCV was also detected in 26 percent of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, 8 percent of those with cryptogenic cirrhosis, 7 percent of those with primary biliary cirrhosis, and 5 percent of those with autoimmune chronic active hepatitis. Only two of 300 healthy controls were positive for anti-HCV.

This report suggests that HCV is responsible for a sizable proportion of cases of chronic liver disease, excluding those caused by autoimmunity. Moreover, these percentages may underestimate the true prevalence, since newer immunoassays detect HCV with more sensitivity than the assay used in this study.

— ASB

Published in Journal Watch General Medicine September 3, 1991

Citation(s):

Katkov WN et al. Role of hepatitis C virus in non-B chronic liver disease. Arch Intern Med 1991 Aug 151 1548-1552.

• Medline abstract (Free)