ab22103

Joint sonography in asymptomatic patients with HCV correlated hepatitis

A. Iagnocco, G. Coari, A. Mammarella¹, S. Basili¹, L. Donnarumma, G. Valesini, V. Paoletti¹

Rheumatology Unit and ¹Medical Therapy Department, University 'La Sapienza', Rome, Italy.

ABSTRACT
Objectives
Many different articular symptoms may appear in patients with HCV hepatitis, but in a relatively large number of patients no rheumatic symptoms are present. This sonographic study was undertaken to detect the possible presence of early articular changes in HCV patients without any rheumatic manifestations.

Methods
The knee, hip and shoulder were evaluated in a cohort of 29 consecutive HCV patients without any rheumatic symptoms. Results were compared with those obtained by the evaluation of 29 healthy subjects who were negative for markers of HCV and HBV infections.

Results
Results showed the presence of alterations in 96.5% of the patients, with significant differences in comparison to controls (p < 0.0001). Slight inflammatory changes were found in all the joints examined. The knee was involved in 79.3% of the cases, the hip in 27.6% and the shoulder in 89.6%.

Conclusions
Our preliminary study shows the presence of joint changes in the majority of cases. To the best of our knowledge this is the first ultrasonographic study to focus on joint evaluation in patients with HCV hepatitis. Broader epidemiological and virological investigations, in particular for the HCV subtype and HLA genotype, will be required to elucidate the relationship between HCV infection and rheumatic symptoms.

Key words
HCV hepatitis, joint sonography.

Please address correspondence and reprint requests to: Annamaria Iagnocco, MD, Cattedra di Reumatologia, Dipartimento di Clinica e Terapia Medica Applicata, Universitá di Roma 'La Sapienza', Viale del Policlinico 155, 00161 Rome, Italy. E-mail: aiagnocco@tiscali.it