thrombocytopenia as a clinical manifestation of hepatitis c among patients with a positive anti-hcv test

objectives the aim was to study the prevalence of thrombocytopenia in hcv patients without cirrhosis and splenomegaly. patients and methods a cross-sectional study was carried out in the gastrointestinal out patient department (g.i. opd) of the sindh institute of urology and transplantation (siut) from september-november 2013. 30 patients aged between 18 - 60 years with a positive anti-hcv result were included. patients with enlarged spleen, liver cirrhosis on an ultrasound of the abdomen, and thrombocytopenia related to other causes were excluded from the study. results a total of 30 patients satisfying the inclusion criteria were selected for study. the mean age of the patients was 42.2 ± 11.4 (16 - 60), and they included 21 females and 7 males. the majority of patients had normal liver function tests with normal spleen size. on the cbc, 13 had platelets of less than 150,000/µl and 17 patients had a platelet count in the normal range, i.e., 150,000 - 400,000/µl. the prevalence of thrombocytopenia was found to be 43.3% among those with hepatitis c. conclusions the conducted study showed moderate frequency of hepatitis c-induced thrombocytopenia in patients without hepatic fibrosis and splenomegaly among the pakistani population. background the hepatitis c virus (hcv) has been recognized as the cause of thrombocytopenia (defined as a platelet count of < 150,000 platelets/ul) occurring in patients with chronic hepatitis c. thrombocytopenia occurs in 64% - 76% of patients with cirrhosis and/or fibrosis, compared with 6% of non-cirrhotic patients with chronic liver disease.