Liver histological alterations in patients with chronic hepatitis C and normal ALT levels in the city of Salvador, Northeast-Brazil



Título del documento: Liver histological alterations in patients with chronic hepatitis C and normal ALT levels in the city of Salvador, Northeast-Brazil
Revista: The brazilian journal of infectious diseases
Base de datos: PERIÓDICA
Número de sistema: 000290926
ISSN: 1413-8670
Autores: 1
2

3

4
5
Instituciones: 1Hospital Sao Rafael, Servico de Gastro-Hepatologia, Salvador, Bahia. Brasil
2Fundacao Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Salvador, Bahia. Brasil
3Universidade Federal da Bahia, Pos-graduacao em Medicina e Saude, Salvador, Bahia. Brasil
4Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale, Laboratoire de l'Hepatite Virale, Lyon, Rhone-Alpes. Francia
5Universidade Federal da Bahia, Hospital Prof. Edgar Santos, Salvador, Bahia. Brasil
Año:
Periodo: Abr
Volumen: 9
Número: 2
Paginación: 134-141
País: Brasil
Idioma: Inglés
Tipo de documento: Artículo
Enfoque: Caso clínico
Resumen en inglés Patients with chronic hepatitis C can have variable clinical progression. Hepatic histological alterations appear to be milder in asymptomatic subjects who have persistently normal ALT levels. AIMS: To evaluate the severity of histological liver alterations in blood donors with normal and elevated ALT levels. We evaluated volunteer blood donors from the main blood bank of the city of Salvador-Brazil. Those who were anti-HCV positive were invited to participate in the study. Serum ALT and AST levels were measured at two time points, two months apart. Donors were divided into two groups: group I, individuals with ALT > 1.5 times the upper limit of normal in at least one time point and group II, individuals with normal or near normal ALT, at both time points RESULTS: We evaluated 30,232 blood donors and 528 (1.7%) of them were anti-HCV positive. Eighty-two attended our service and HCV infection was confirmed in 66 individuals. Male gender predominated in both groups; the mean age was 36 for group I, and 33 for group II. Tattoos and intravenous illicit drug use were frequently-encountered risk factors. Liver biopsy was done in 43 subjects. Among donors with elevated ALT, two (10%) had minimum alterations, while in group II normal liver or minimum alterations were observed in six (26%) subjects. Chronic hepatitis or cirrhosis was encountered in 35 (81%) individuals: three (15%) and five (21%) subjects had chronic hepatitis without inflammatory activity, 10 (50%) and 11 (48%) had minimum to moderate activity and five (25%) and one (4.3%) had cirrhosis, in groups I and II, respectively (P was not significant). The prevalence of anti-HCV among this population of volunteer blood donors was 1.7%, and these subjects had few liver histological alterations or chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis. Liver injury severity was significant in patients with elevated ALT, however subjects with normal levels may also present chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis
Disciplinas: Medicina
Palabras clave: Diagnóstico,
Gastroenterología,
Anatomía e histología,
Hepatitis C,
Hepatitis crónica,
Histopatología,
Genotipos,
Donadores de sangre
Keyword: Medicine,
Diagnosis,
Gastroenterology,
Anatomy and histology,
Chronic hepatitis,
Hepatitis C,
Histopathology,
Genotypes,
Blood donors
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