Possible correlations among viremia , genotypes and liver histology in HCV ( + ) hemodialysis patients HCV ( + )

Results: ALT level was normal in 50 patients (68.5%), intermittently high in 18 patients (24.8%) and persistently high in 5 patients (6.8%). HCV RNA (57, 5 %) was positive in 42 of 73 patients. HCV genotype was determined in 29 patients. HCV genotype 1a was detected in three cases and HCV genotype 1b was detected in 26 patients. There was no difference between HCV RNA positive patients and HCV RNA negative ones with regard to age, gender, duration of dialysis, ALT and albumin levels. A liver biopsy was performed in 21 of 73 patients. It was found that histological features were not different between HCV RNA (+) and HCV RNA (-) patients. Moreover, HAI and fibrosis scores were found to be similar among patients with HCV genotype 1a, HCV genotype 1b and an undetermined genotype.