Assessment of liver stiffness in patients with HCV and mixed cryoglobulinemia undergoing rituximab treatment

Table 2 Principal demographic and hepato-virological data of the 14 HCV-positive patients with mixed cryoglobulinemia before and 3 months after treatment with rituximab

Parameter	Baseline	3 months	Normal range	P value
Age (years)	60.43 ± 43		Normal range
Gender (M%)	28.5
BMI	26.24 ± 1.74		18–25
Platelets (×10⁹ /L)	145.50 ± 71.22	163.4 ± 19.89	140–440	p = 0.03
RBC (×10¹² /L)	4255 ± 438	4369 ± 723	4200–5400	p = 0.11
WBC (×10⁹ /L)	4684 ± 1374	4829 ± 1898	4–10	p = 0.86
ALT (U/L)	64.09 ± 39.66	65.63 ± 35.92	5–40	p = 0.86
AST (U/L)	69.54 ± 56.60	74.81 ± 40.78	5–40	p = 0.08
GGT (U/L)	66.09 ± 94.47	47.09 ± 30.03	10–40	p = 0.38
Creatinine (mg/dL)	0.70 ± 0.19	0.65 ± 0.15	0.6–1.5	p = 0.40
Glucose (mg/dL)	92.66 ± 11.58	92.33 ± 6.12	65–110	p = 0.32
Albumine (g/dL)	3.82 ± 0.35	4.05 ± 0.41	3.5–5.0	p = 0.02
Bilirubin (mg/dL)	0.88 ± 0.55	1.53 ± 1.99	0,3–1	p = 0.13
HCV-RNA (UI/L)	719798 ± 677364	1469311 ± 1576236	Undetectable	p = 0.07
Genotype 1	11
Genotype 2a/2c	2
Genotype 3	1
CC polymorfism of IL-28-β	27.27%
Mean stiffness (kPa)	20.44 ± 17.29	17.00 ±16.05		p = 0.03
CD 19+ (10⁶ L)	124.2 ± 56.15	38 ± 16.59		p = 0.04

Abbreviations: BMI Body mass index, RBC Red blood cells, WBC White blood cells, ALT Alanine transaminase, AST Aspartate aminotransferase, GGT Gamma glutamyl-transpeptidase. Statistically significant p values are labeled with bold text.

ISSN: 1479-5876