الفهرس 
Hepatitis C virus infectionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Background: Lupus nephritis is one of the most serious manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Novel biomarkers are necessary to enhance the diagnostic accuracy and sensitivity of lupus nephritis (LN).
Objective. Many authors have claimed that pulse wave Doppler ultrasonography indexes are of value in grading and assessing diffuse liver disease. However, there are few studies that have described the use of pulse wave Doppler ultrasonography for assessing the effectiveness of IFN treatment and there is much controversy regarding the reliability and reproducibility of these techniques. We performed a prospective study to evaluate whether these methods can assess the effectiveness of and the response to IFN therapy in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV)–related liver disease
Subjects and Methods. Fifty- three patients with biopsy-proven HCV-related liver disease were recruited, and all patients received treatment for chronic hepatitis C in the form of combined therapy of pegylated interferon plus ribavirin
Before and after treatment, pulse wave Doppler ultrasonography was performed by one operator using Hitachi-EUB-7500 ultrasound machine (Hitachi - medical corporation Tokyo- Japan).
Five Doppler parameters were measured: portal vein velocity (PVV), hepatic artery resistive index (HARI), hepatic artery pulsatility index (HAPI), splenic artery resistance index (SARI) and splenic artery Pulsatility index (SAPI). On the basis of the response to treatment 24 weeks after completion of treatment; the patients were classified into one of the following two groups: Responders (17 patients), included patients with sustained virological response (SVR) and Non responders: (36 patients), included patients without sustained virological response (SVR).
Results.Significant improvement in all portal hemodynamic parameters after treatment in comparison with that before treatment (in both responders and non responders groups)
But there was non significant difference observed as regard the portal hemodynamic parameters before and after treatment in responders versus non responders; indicating that all portal hemodynamic parameters improved after treatment whatever the response to therapy.
Conclusion. All portal hemodynamic parameters improved after treatment whatever the response to therapy. And Doppler ultrasonography is a less reliable test for evaluating the effectiveness and the response of IFN treatment in patients with CHC.
Abbreviations: IFN: interferon, PVV: Portal vein velocity, HARI: Hepatic artery resistive index, HAPI: Hepatic artery pulsatility index, SARI: Splenic artery resistive index SAPI: Splenic artery pulsatility index.