TY - JOUR AU - Rauf, Ambreen AU - Aman, Shahbaz AU - Nadeem, Muhammad AU - Kazmi, Atif Hasnain PY - 2013/05/21 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Frequency of Cutaneous Manifestations in Patients of Hepatitis C Virus Infection JF - Annals of King Edward Medical University JA - Annals KEMU VL - 18 IS - 1 SE - Articles DO - 10.21649/akemu.v18i1.378 UR - https://www.annalskemu.org/journal/index.php/annals/article/view/378 SP - 66 AB - <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 18.0pt;"><strong><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Objective:</span></strong><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">To determine the frequency of cutaneous manifestations of hepatitis C infection in patients pre-senting in a tertiary care hospital.<strong></strong></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 18.0pt;"><strong><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Study Design: &nbsp;</span></strong><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Descriptive study.<strong></strong></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; tab-stops: 18.0pt;"><strong><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Place and Duration of Study:</span></strong><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;Department of Derma-tology, King Edward Medical University / Mayo Hospital, Lahore, from 1<sup>st</sup> January, 2009 to 30<sup>th</sup> June, 2009.<strong></strong></span></p> <strong><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Methodology:</span></strong><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">A descriptive (observational) study was conducted in the hepatitis C virus (HCV) infected patients, attending the Skin Department during a period of six months. The patients were diagnosed as HCV positive by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and / or polymerase chain reaction (PCR). A thorough medical history was taken and a detailed&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">cutaneous examination was carried out in every pat-ient.</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify; tab-stops: 18.0pt;"><strong><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Results:<em> </em></span></strong><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">A total of 180 patients were enrolled. Out of them, 95 (52.8%) were males and 85 (47.2%) females. Most of the patients were in the age group of 21 &ndash; 30 years. Thirty five (19.4%) patients were taking treat-ment of hepatitis C. Pruritus was the most common dermatological feature seen in 33.8%, followed by lichen planus in 27.2%. Less common manifestations noted were utricaria (7.8%), vitiligo (5.6%), mixed cryoglobulinemia (4.4%), erythema nodosum (2.8%), erythema multiforme (2.2%), porphyria cutanea tarda (1.1%) and necrolytic acral erythema (1.1%). The signs of chronic liver disease (palmar erythema, jaun-dice, spider naevi, telangiectasia, leukonychia) were found in 13.8% of patients.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify; tab-stops: 18.0pt;"><strong><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Conclusion:</span></strong><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hepatitis C virus infection is associated with a number of extra-hepatic cutaneous manifesta-tions which may help to identify the silent cases of this grave disease.</span></p> <strong><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Key words:</span></strong><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hepatitis C Virus, Cutaneous manifesta-tions, Pruritus, Lichen planus</span> ER -