RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Patients with chronic hepatitis C (HCV) infection commonly have perihepatic lymph node enlargement (PLNE). We investigated the prognostic value of PLNE in the development of complicated cirrhosis and death, as well as the clinical and laboratory factors associated with the presence of PLNE in a cohort of HCV-infected veterans. METHODS: Using a retrospective cohort design, we compared the rate of development of decompensated cirrhosis and/or death in a group of HCV-infected patients who did not have evidence of decompensated cirrhosis stratified by the presence or absence of PLNE. We used Kaplan-Meier survival curves. We then evaluated which factors were predictive of detection of PLNE using logistic regression. RESULTS: A total of 131 patients were included in the study. Fifty-nine patients had PLNE and 72 patients did not. After a mean follow-up of 42 months, survival in the absence of progression to decompensated cirrhosis and/or death was not significantly different between the two groups (log-rank test, p = 0.27). The only factor predictive of progression to decompensated cirrhosis and/or death was the presence of cirrhosis at baseline (HR 13.13, 95% CI 2.21-79.41). In addition, cirrhosis was the only factor predictive of the detection of PLNE on CT scan (OR 3.09: CI 2.1-25.9). CONCLUSIONS: Presence of PLNE in patients with chronic HCV infection is strongly associated with subclinical cirrhosis. However, PLNE does not independently predict the progression of liver disease to decompensated cirrhosis and/or death in HCV-infected patients.
