Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Iran
Original Article
Is Liver Fibrosis in Association with Opium Addiction and Intravenous Drug Abuse among Hepati-tis C Virus-infected Patients?
Author(s): Mohammad Javad Ehsani Ardakani, Sina Sadeghian*, Alireza Shavakhi, Ahmad Shavakhi and Mehrdad Khodabandeh
Introduction: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a prevalent etiology that leads to cirrhosis. Various factors affect liver fibrosis progression. In the current study, we aimed to assess the probable role of opium consumption and intravenous drug abuse (IVDU) on liver inflammation and fibrosis. Materials and Methods: This is a case-control study conducted on 58 patients with hepatitis C virus infection in 2012. Anti-HCV antibody and quantitative HCV-RNA burden were performed for all pa-tients. Then, they underwent a liver biopsy for the determination of inflammation grading and liver fibrosis based on the Hepatic Activity Index (HAI). Regarding in-flammation grade, patients were divided into two groups of 0-4 grade as controls and 5-18 as cases. Considering the fibrosis score, patients were divided into two groups of 0-2 score as controls and 3-6 score as cases. Results: This study .. Read More»