APMIS

Viremia in chronic hepatitis C patients evaluated by the Amplicor RT-PCR, a nested RT-PCR, and transaminase levels.

Year 1998
Laursen AL. Ingerslev J. Andersen PL. Ostergaard L.
Department of Infectious Diseases, Marselisborg Hospital, University of Aarhus, Denmark.
A commercially available kit, Amplicor, was compared with a locally developed nested reverse-transcriptase (RT) PCR for qualitative detection of HCV-RNA. Sixty-one serum samples from sixty-one patients with liver disease, and 60 samples from 60 hemophiliacs without symptoms, but known to have been heavily exposed to hepatitis C virus, were investigated. There was a high degree of concordance between the two diagnostic tests (97%), the Amplicor kit being slightly more sensitive than the in-house PCR, when evaluated using serial dilutions of samples showing discrepant results. The relationship between viremia and abnormal ALT levels was studied in the two groups of patients. Among those with chronic liver disease, 8.3% of patients with viremia had normal ALT levels, whereas transaminases were normal in 20% of hemophiliacs with viremia. This points to ALT as being a poor marker of ongoing viral replication.

Morphological adaptations of human liver peroxisomes in cholestasis.

Year 1998
De Craemer D. Pauwels M. Van den Branden C.
No information.
Part of the bile acid synthesis takes place in peroxisomes. An altered enterohepatic circulation of bile acids might influence peroxisomal beta-oxidation enzymes and peroxisomal morphology. We performed a morphological and morphometric investigation of peroxisomes in liver biopsy samples of eight patients with cholestasis of different origin: graft versus host reaction (n = 1), obstruction of the bile flow (n = 3), and drug-induced cholestatic hepatitis (n = 4). Peroxisomes were identified using catalase cytochemistry. They were regularly shaped and showed individual differences in electron density. A perinuclear distribution was observed in a variable number of hepatocytes in each sample. Morphometric analysis of peroxisomes revealed an increase in numerical density and surface density in all, and a decreased mean diameter in four liver samples. Based on previously obtained data in experimental animals, we hypothesize that the observed alterations in peroxisomal morphology indicate an enhanced metabolic activity of the enzymes in the peroxisomal matrix. Among them are enzymes involved in bile acid synthesis.

Pyogenic hepatic abscess. A 10-year population-based retrospective study.

Year 1998
Hansen PS. Schonheyder HC.
Department of Clinical Microbiology, Aalborg Hospital, Denmark.
A 10-year retrospective survey was undertaken of patients with pyogenic hepatic abscesses (PHA). Fifty-two patients fulfilled the criteria of PHA, equivalent to a mean annual incidence of 11/1,000,000. The main symptom was fever. Laboratory tests were compatible with infection, slightly elevated alkaline phosphatase being the only test pointing towards the liver as the focus of infection. Forty-one patients (79%, 95% CL, 68-90%) had positive cultures from aspirated pus, with a total of 79 isolates. Enteric Gram-negative rods accounted for 45% and anaerobic bacteria for 31% of PHA isolates. Gram-positive cocci, predominantly non-haemolytic streptococci, were the third largest group (19%), but were rare among blood isolates. Positive blood cultures were found in 21 patients (40%, 95% CL, 27-54%), with a total of 28 isolates. Percutaneous drainage was performed in 26, percutaneous needle aspiration in 10, combinations thereof in 5, and abdominal surgery in 5. Forty-nine patients received systemic antibiotic therapy, four of whom were treated with antibiotics only. Seven recurrences occurred and the overall case fatality rate was 6% (95%, CL 0-12%), which might reflect a low rate of underlying malignant diseases in our study material.