Hepatitis C virus genotype distribution in Egyptian diabetic patients: a preliminary study

There is controversy regarding whether a specific hepatitis C virus [HCV] genotype is associated with diabetes mellitus. This study aimed to investigate HCV genotype distribution in diabetics and its relation to some clinical and laboratory variables in HCV-positive diabetic versus non-diabetic Egyptians in East Delta. The study included 100 HCV-positive patients of which 66 were diabetic in addition to 35 healthy adults as a control group. Clinical assessment, laboratory measurements of plasma glucose, insulin, C-peptide, C-reactive protein [CRP], tumour necrosis Factor-alpha [TNF-alpha] and liver functions [alanine aminotransferase [ALT], aspartate aminotransferase [AST] and gamma-glutamyltransferase [GGT]] as well as HCV genotype determination were done, and AST/platelet ratio index [APRI] and Homoeostasis Model of Assessment-Insulin Resistance [HOMA-IR] were calculated. The main results were the presence of HCV genotype 3, in 31.8% of the diabetic group and in 26.5% of the non-diabetic group, while the remainder of cases had genotype 4, the predominant genotype in Egypt. This is the first report of the presence of HCV genotype 3 in about 30% of an Egyptian cohort. However, there was no significant difference in genotype distribution between both groups. Further, there were significantly higher values of HOMA-IR, insulin and C-peptide in HCV-positive groups in comparison to the control group, while TNF-alpha was significantly higher in the HCV-positive diabetic group. However, there were no significant differences between both genotypes regarding these parameters. Although this study reveals for the first time the presence of HCV genotype 3 in a significant percentage of a group of Egyptian patients, where the majority were diabetic, the association between diabetes and certain HCV genotypes could not be confirmed on the basis of our findings. Hence, taking into consideration the impact of such a finding on the treatment decisions of those patients, further studies are warranted to explore these findings to a greater extent

Utility of preoperative serum carcinoemberyonic antigen in colorectal cancer patients

Background and Aim: the usefulness of preoperative Carcinoembryonic antigen [CEA] in colorectal cancer [CRC] remains unsettled as regards its role in management and follow up of CRC patients. Efficacy of basal CEA in the diagnosis, prognosis, follow up and therapy of CRC patients will be assessed in this study

Patients and Methods: 200 CRC patients and 100 persons as a healthy control were included in the study. Basal CEA was done before resection. Postoperative Dukes' staging was adopted. Routine follow up and CEA estimation were done

Results: the mean CEA in CRC patients [17.3 ng% +/- 1.67] was significantly higher than control [3.41 ng% +/- 1.1]. A significant association between mean basal CEA and Dukes' classes was evident [it was 7.8, 12.7, 25.8 ng% for Dukes' A, B, C]. The validity of basal CEA in primary CRC diagnosis was highly positive, with higher efficacy in advanced disease detection and negative exclusion power for DFS prediction. Basal CEA was a discriminant factor in prognosis. DFT and DFS were higher in patients with CEA

Conclusion: the preoperative CEA identifies subsets with favourable, indolent and uneven biological behaviour [ 15 ng %]. With conventional staging, it forms strong prognostic tool that supplies practice guideline for follow up and therapy