Prevalence of thrombocytopenia in Egyptian patients with chronic hepatitis C virus.

Thrombocytopenia is defined as a platelet count less than 150.000/mm3. It is a common finding in subjects with chronic hepatitis as HCV antibody-positive individuals are 2.6 times more likely to have a low platelet count than those who are HCV-antibody negative. However, controversy still exists concerning the mechanism of HCV-associated thrombocytopenia This work studied the thrombocytopenia prevalence in Egyptian patients with chronic HCV. Data of 100 patients with chronic hepatitis C presented to Tropical Medicine department, Al-Azhar University, included full history, clinical assessment, laboratory investigations (complete blood count, liver biochemical profile, kidney function tests and PCR), abdominal ultrasound and liver biopsy. The prevalence of thrombocytopenia among patients was 24/100 (24%), mild thrombocytopenia was the commonest grade (17%) then moderate one (6%) and lastly severe thrombocytopenia (1%). Thrombocytopenia significantly occurred more in older ages with high AST and ALT levels. The prevalence of thrombocytopenia significantly increased with abnormality liver Echopattern and with the progress of fibrosis and activity in liver biopsy.