Assessing Responsiveness of Elevated Serum Ferritin for Treatment in Chronic Hepatitis C Infected Patients

Abstract

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a foremost community health issue globally. There is anoptimisticrelationamid iron accumulation in hepatocytes and high serum markers counting transferrin and ferritin. The purpose of this analysis was to examine the responsiveness of the treatment with elevated serum ferritin in patients with hepatitis C infection. Methods: The study included 200 HCV-infected patients from the department of Medicine, Divisional Headquarters teaching hospital, Mirpurand Isra Medical University, Karachi for six months duration from 16thJune 2020 to 15thDecember 2020. The clinical feature assesses HCV exposure in all patients, biochemical data, and iron status parameters. The results were quantified using Microsoft Excel 2013. Results: The obtained outcomes indicate that antiviral treatment significantly interferes the iron accumulation in hepatocytes in HCV positive patients. All positive iron values were calculated as 19.93 mol / L; and for all negative PCR, the value was calculated at 24.61 μmol / L prior to drug started. Our patients’ levels of iron were 62.77 μmol / L in patients whose PCR is positive for HCV which is within the normal range. Reduced ferritin levels have negative effects after drug administration. The increase in ALT was observed in 37.62% of cases. Conclusions: Patients with chronic HCV have strong association with serum iron concentration. Keywords: Ferritin levels, Drugs, Iron load, Hepatitis C Virus Infection, Serum and Liver Cells.