[Hematological syndromes in patients with chronic hepatitis C]

To examine hemopoiesis and to estimate proinflammatory cytokines in blood serum from 42 patients with chronic viral hepatitis (CVH) associated with 1-3 lineage cytopenia in the blood.

42 patients with diagnostically complicated hematological picture suggestive of hemoblastosis were examined using standard tests, bone marrow puncture and trepanobiopsy, laparoscopy with biopsy of the liver and spleen, transcutaneous puncture biopsy of the liver under ultrasonic control, explorative laparotomy with splenectomy and liver biopsy and, on demand, laboratory tests for hemolysis, presence of antithrombocytic and antileukocytic antibodies, iron metabolism, karyological analysis of bone marrow cells was also made.

The majority of the patients were diagnosed to have chronic hepatitis C with low activity of hepatic inflammation and frequent (55%) absence of the diagnostic antibodies to hepatitis C virus in the serum. In 86% of cases blood cytopenia reflected uneffective hemopoiesis and in 14% of cases hemopoiesis hypoplasia was found.

Uneffective hemopoiesis, high content of immune response cells-effectors in the bone marrow and high concentration of TNF in the serum indirectly evidence for a pathogenetic relationship of chronic HCV infection with cytopenic hematological syndromes.