Frequency of Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma at Hyderabad

Objective: to determine the frequency of hepatitis b and hepatitis c in patients with hepato- cellular carcinoma in two university hospitals of hyderabad. study design: descriptive observational study. place and duration: this study was conducted at liaquat university hospital hyderabad and isra university hospital hyderabad from november 2005 to october 2008. material and methods: clinically diagnosed hepatocellular carcinoma (hcc) cases were confirmed pathologically. demographic and clinical information was recorded on a pre- designed proforma. serological assessment for hepatitis b, hepatitis c and delta virus was car- ried out through elisa. results: a total of 200 cases of hepatocellular carcinoma were included in this study. hepati- tis c antibody was present in 145 (72.5%) cases. hbsag was present in 42 (21.0%) cases. thir- teen (6.5%) cases were infected by multiple viruses. twenty-one (10.5%) cases were alcoholic as well as infected by hepatitis c and 1 case (0.5%) was only alcoholic. twelve cases (6.0%) were neither alcoholic nor having any viral etiology. conclusion: hcv alone was most frequent presentation in cases of hcc followed by hbv, emphasizing their etiological association.