Particularities of Renal Manifestations in Chronic Viral Hepatitis

Chronic viral hepatitis represent major health problems worldwide, with an evolution that is sometimes marked by a series of extrahepatic manifestations. Among these, kidney disease may occur, either as glomerulonephritis, and/or renal dysfunction.

The purpose of this study was to achieve a complete assessment of the liver and kidney function in a series of patients diagnosed with chronic viral hepatitis, in order to identify a possible kidney disease in this context. 104 patients with chronic viral hepatitis B and C, aged between 25 and 80, were included in the study. These patients were assessed by a series of tests that allowed us to perform a complete evaluation of both liver and kidney function: liver cytolysis enzymes, serum bilirubin, markers of cholestasis, markers of viral infection, urinalysis, albuminuria, electrophoresis of urinary proteins, urea, creatinine, and abdominal ultrasound.

Glomerular injury was a rare finding in patients with chronic hepatitis. Patients with chronic hepatitis B had glomerular disease in 5,88 % of cases, while 10 % of the patients with hepatitis C presented this type of renal disease. Acute kidney injury was not identified in our patient group. None of the patients in the hepatitis B study group presented chronic kidney disease. CKD was present in two patients with chronic hepatitis C that had no other associated conditions.