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Abstract
Hepatobiliary involvement in patients with sickle cell disease is multifactorial and ranges from benign hyperbilirubinemia to potentially fatal fulminant hepatic failure. This study aimed to assess the sero prevalence of hepatitis C virus among children with sickle cell disease at a single Egyptian center and to evaluate its impact on the laboratory and ultrasonographic spectrum of hepatic dysfunction among those children. The study included 76 sickle cell disease patients, aged 1 to 38 years (41 males and 35 females).Complete blood picture, liver functions and anti HCV by third generation enzyme immunoassay for anti HCV IgG according to the manufacturer{u2019}s instructions, as well as abdominal ultrasonographic examination were performed for all patients. Mean age of patients was 11.8 years with 68/76 (89.5%) children. Fifty three (69.7%) of the studied cases have received transfusion with mean age at1sttransfusion 2.85 years. Twenty / 76 patients (26.3%) were HCV sero positive. Twelve/20 (60%) had positive HCV RNA testing.Ultrasonography revealed that splenomegaly was the most common finding seen in 18 (23.7%), followed by gall bladder diseases17 (22.3%) and hepatomegaly in 15 (19.7%). HCV positive cases showed a significantly higher frequencies of leg ulcers, thrombotic events, easy bruisebility, jaundice and cholecystectomy when compared to HCV negative group P < 0.05