CHRONIC HEPATITIS C INFECTION AND HIGH LEVELS OF CIRCULATING N-TERMINAL PRO-BRAIN NATRIURETIC PEPTIDE (NT-PROBNP)

Introduction: Liver Cirrhosis is the most common cause of hospitalization and deaths in the world. It is one of the most common cause of mortality and morbidity in the Pakistan mainly due to hepatitis C infection. HCV infection causes cardiomyopathy which results in poor contraction and relaxation of the heart that results in cardiac dysfunction and cardiac failure. Material And Methods: It was a case control study held at Out-patient department and Medical Unit-1 of Lahore General Hospital, Lahore for a period of 06 months, from 1st January 2018 till 30th June 2019. Group 1 (case group) included all those patients who are HCV positive by ELISA. Group 2(control group) included HCV negative patients by ELISA. Samples were sent to FFH pathology laboratory. NT-proBNP levels were be measured by COBASE 411 immunoassay analyser by using sandwich principle for vitro quantitative determination in human serum and plasma. Results: Total 80 patients were included according to the inclusion criteria of the study. There were 32 (40%) male and 48 (60%) female patients who were included in the study according to the inclusion criteria. Out of 80 patients, there were 24(32%) patients who have prolonged positive NT-pro BNP value. The frequency of NT-pro BNP in patients in chronic hepatitis C infective and non-infective was 19(47.5%) and 5 (12.5%) respectively. The P-value was 0.001 which means that the difference between the two groups was statistically significant. Conclusion: My study revealed that high level of NT-pro BNP was found to be associated with chronic HCV infection, which indicates that HCV infection induces myocardial dysfunction, such as myocarditis, in asymptomatic patients with chronic HCV infection.So,from above, further similar studies are recommended in our population to establish this fact. Keywords: Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), NT-proBNP, Myocarditis, Cardiac dysfunction