Joint involvement in asymptomatic Egyptian patients with HCV infection; ultrasonographic study

ABSTRACT

This case control diagnostic ultrasonographic study was undertaken to detect the presence of early articular and peri-articular involvement in Egyptian patients infected with hepatitis C virus [HCV] without any articular manifestation. The knee, hip and shoulder were evaluated clinically and by ultrasonography in a cohort of fifty patients with HCV without any current or previous articular manifestations in comparison with twenty healthy controls who were negative for HCV and HBV infections. Ultrasonographic alterations were detected in 96% of the HCV patients with highly significant difference in comparison to controls [p < 0.000]. Slight inflammatory changes were found in all the joints examined more than the moderate or severe changes. The knee and shoulder joints were involved in 74% of the HCV patients for each and the hip in 68%. There were higher prevalence and highly significant differences as regard the knee synovial thickening and effusion, hip effusion, trochanteric bursitis, supraspinatus tendon fluid collection and acromioclavicular joint effusion in comparison to the control group. Our study demonstrated the presence of joint changes in near all the asymptomatic patients with HCV with the prevalence of slight inflammatory alterations that can be explained by the presence of sub-clinical synovitis as well as the presence of significant changes in some of peri-articular structures. In countries like Egypt, the HCV is an endemic disease, so it is thus recommended that patients with rheumatic symptoms should be tested for the HCV infection and conversely that sign and symptoms of articular involvement should be evaluated in HCV patients