Hereditary haemochromatosis patients with chronic hepatitis C infection develop advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis earlier and at a lower hepatic iron concentration than do those without this infection.
This combination of haemochromatosis (HH)-induced iron overload and hepatitis C virus (HCV) does appear, as has been suggested in earlier reports, to have a potentiating effect on hepatic fibrogenesis. Both HH and HCV infection can independently result in liver fibrosis and cirrhosis.
This study, from a team at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, United States, sought to determine the effect of the combination of HH and HCV infection on hepatic function.
Hari H. Diwakaran from the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, with colleagues from the Departments of Internal Medicine and of Pathology, compared 10 patients with combined HCV and HH to 13 patients with HH alone and 24 with HCV alone.
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