title: An adult patient with acute hepatitis type B which was protracted and complicated by polyarteritis nodosa: a case report.
abstract: Polyarteritis nodosa (PAN), an extra-hepatic complication of hepatitis type B, is usually treated with a combination of immunosuppressive and antiviral drugs. Less commonly, interferon (IFN) has been used alone. A 57-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with epididymitis and acute hepatitis with genotype A, hepatitis B virus (HBV). He became a carrier with complicating PAN. The administration of interferon alpha2b (IFNalpha2b) at a dose of 6 MU/day for 4 weeks alleviated abdominal and neuronal symptoms related to PAN, although HBV replication was not eliminated. This is the first case of PAN with HBV of genotype A and which was treated with IFN alone. This case indicates the possibility that IFN is efficacious for extra-hepatic complications of hepatitis type B and suggests that differences in genotype may be associated with variation in the likelihood of progression to persistent infection and the incidence of extra-hepatic complications in Japan.
authors.affiliation: Third Department of Internal Medicine, Nihon University School of Medicine, 30-1 Oyaguchi-Kamimachi, Itabashi-ku, 173-8610, Tokyo, Japan
authors.forename: Hitomi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Toshihiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.forename: Shuh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ohshiro
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Aoki
authors.forename: Miki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaneko
authors.forename: Atsuo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shioda
authors.forename: Takahide
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saitoh
authors.forename: Mitsuhiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moriyama
authors.forename: Naohide
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Yasuyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Arakawa