Assessment of Carotid Intema Medial Thickness, Gamma-Glutamyl Transferase and HCV Viral Load in Egyptian HCV Positive Patients

Hepatitis C (HCV) has the highest prevalence among Egyptian patients. Local epidemiologic studies stated that it affects around 7.8% of the general population or 5.8 million individuals. It is known that hepatitis C causes a state of chronic inflammation resulting in elevation of inflammatory mediators such as IL 6 and other cytokines. Vascular intema medial thickness is a powerful predictor of cerebral and coronary events. Our study aimed to study the correlation between hepatitis C viral load and carotid atherosclerosis in Egyptian patients via assessing the intema medial thickness and carotid plaques among such patients. Patients and Methods: We evaluated one hundred patients fifty (50) patients with seropositive HCV and fifty (50) HCV negative patients by full clinical history, physical examination, laboratory assessment including RT- PCR for All HCV positive patients and Color flow Doppler study of both common carotid arteries to assess the carotid intema medial thickness A thickness more than 1mm was considered significant while a thickness more than 1.3mm will be diagnosed as a plaque. Results: In our study there was a significant positive correlation between the viral load and common carotids intema medial thickness. Also a significant positive correlation between GGT and Common carotid intema media thickness was found. Conclusion: Our work provided a positive correlation between HCV viral load and common carotids intema medial thickness and a significant positive correlation between GGT and Common carotid intema media thickness.