الفهرس 
HEPATOCARDIAC DISORDERSOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Introduction: Egypt has the highest prevalence of HCV in the world, which is the cause of many different forms of heart disease, and yet few cardiologists are aware of it as an etiology of heart disease. Hepatitis C virus infection is thought to be associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease events. As the coronary artery disease is one of the major causes of mortality in all human populations, therefore detection of its risk factors and preventing population exposure to them should be considered to attenuate health burden imposed by coronary artery disease (CAD).
Material and Methods: This prospective study conducted in Sohag University Hospitals from May 2012 until May 2015 on 100 patient with angiographically documented CAD, 50 HCV RNA negative patients and 50 HCV RNA positive patients. We investigated the association between HCVRNA positivity, level of viremia and the severity of coronary atherosclerosis as detected by Gensini score. Also, we investigated the relationship between High-sensitivity C-reactive protein serum levels, serum GGT activity, and their diagnostic performance for severity of coronary artery disease in chronic hepatitis C patients.
Results: Our study population comprised of 100 patients (73 males, 27 females). 50 patients were HCV RNA Positive (40 male, 10 female) and 50 patients were HCV RNA negative (33 males and 17 females) were used as control.On analysis the number of main coronary arteries with luminal stenosis exceeding 50% involved in the HCV RNA positive group was significantly high compared to the HCV RNA negative group (2.2±0.83 vs.1.7±0.74) (P value= 0.006). The Genseni severity score was significantly higher in the HCV infected group compared to the control group (68.27vs. 34.5±23.6) (P-value < 0.000)
Conclusion: Patients with HCV RNA seropositivity had more extensive, severe atherosclerosis, higher levels of hs-CRP, GGT and HA1c than the control group. Furthermore, HCV RNA positivity, hs-CRP, and GGT were independent predictors of increased severity of CAD.