الفهرس 
INTRODUCTION AND RATIONALEOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
The HCV epidemic has been particularly devastating in Egypt where the prevalence of HCV infection is estimated to be 14% of the total population . Myocardial impairment for which a causal relationship with HCV infection has been suspected to date includes; dilated cardiomyopathy, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy and chronic myocarditis. Pegylated interferon (Peg-IFN)in combination with ribavirin therapy is currently the first-line treatment option for chronic hepatitis C. This regimen can achieve sustained virological response in more than 50% of chronic hepatitis C patients .
On the other hand, interferon is also known to induce flu-like symptoms, hypotension or hypertension and tachycardia after treatment. Risk factors for interferon-induced cardio toxicity are not clearly understood and are not associated with age or dose because toxicity can occur at both low and high daily doses. Patients with a previous history of coronary artery disease may be at risk of ischemic changes, because the interferon. Flu-like reaction accompanied with fever causes an increased myocardial oxygen demand, but the exact mechanism is not clearly understood. So, only a prior history of coronary artery disease has been identified as a possible risk factor to interferon-induced arrhythmia and ischemia.
This prospective clinical cohort study Had been carried out in Suez Center for treatment of viral hepatitis from April 2013 to March 2014, the study included 100 chronic hepatitis C patients from 18 to 60 years old of both sexes who received pegylated interferon and ribavirin according to the criteria of treatment of chronic hepatitis C implemented by the National Program of Treatment of Viral Hepatitis.