الفهرس 
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Abstract
Occult hepatitis B virus infection (OBI) is defined as the presence of hepatitis B
virus HBV-DNA in the liver of patients with negative hepatitis B s antigen (HBsAg) test
with or without serological markers of previous viral exposure. The molecular basis of
occult HBV infection is related to the long-lasting persistence in the nuclei of hepatocytes
of the viral covalently-closed-circular DNA (cccDNA).
Occult hepatitis B is an independent risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma
(HCC) development in anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV)-negative patients. A synergistic or
additive role in the occurrence of HCC in HCV-coinfected patients is more problematic
due to the HCC risk attributable to the HCV alone, especially in patients with advanced
fibrosis and cirrhosis.
The aim of our study was to evaluate the prevalence of OBI infection in CHC
patients who finished the course of treatment with direct acting antiviral drugs and it’s
correlation with relapse after treatment.
This study was conducted on 90 Egyptian patients chronically infected with HCV.
All patients were tested positive for serum real time PCR for HCV-RNA and received
DAAs therapy for 12 weeks. Patients were be categorized to: group I: 45 patients with
CHC after direct antiviral treatment who respond to treatment. group II: 45 patients with
CHC after direct antiviral treatment who didn’t respond to treatment.
All the studied patients were submitted to complete history taking and thorough
clinical examination, laboratory assessment of liver functions, kidney functions, and
fasting blood sugar. Abdominal ultrasonography, CT and MRI were performed. Detection
of HBV-DNA and HCV-RNA was performed by PCR. Responses to oral anti-viral
therapy (OAT) were assessed 12 weeks after end of treatment (EOT) by single step
reverse transcription (SRT) PCR.
Results showed that found that overall prevalence of OBI was 11.11 % (10/90).
We observed that OBI did not affect the anti-HCV DAAs outcomes. Liver cirrhosis and thrombocytopenia had negative impact on the anti-HCV DAAs outcomes.