[Life quality analysis of hepatitis C patients with liver cirrhosis undergoing antiviral therapy following splenectomy].
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effect of antiviral therapy on the quality of life (QOL) of patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) and cirrhosis during the 5-year period following splenectomy to treat hypersplenism.


METHODS
Data of patients with CHC and cirrhosis who had undergone treatment for hypersplenism were retrospectively selected from the hospital database of medical records. The patients were first grouped according to the hypersplenism treatment: splenectomy (group A, 28 cases) and conservative/non-operative (group B, 30 cases). Sub-grouping was carried out according to the CHC treatment: interferon-alpha-2a and ribavirin (15 cases in the A1 group, and 19 cases in the B1 group) and non-antiviral (13 cases in the A2 group, and 11 cases in the B2 group). To determine the intergroup differences in QOL during the 5-year period following the hypersplenism treatment, the QOL was assessed by chronic liver disease questionnaire (CLDQ), listing of specific symptoms (SS), and the World Health Organization QOL scale (WHOQOL-BREF).


RESULTS
Between-group statistical comparison of the subjective feeling, physiological status, mental state, and social life relationship of the patients showed no significant differences among the patients who received splenectomy compared to those who received the conservative treatment. However, the QOL of splenectomy-treated patients who received non-antiviral CHC treatment was worse than that of the patients who were given conservative treatment for the hypersplenism and antiviral therapy for the CHC. The patients who received splenectomy and antiviral therapy had better QOL than the other patient group(3.69 +/- 0.75 vs 2.15 +/- 0.98, P = 0.0003).


CONCLUSIONS
Splenectomy followed by antiviral therapy may improve the QOL of patients with CHC-related cirrhosis and hypersplenism.
Center of Diagnosis and Treatment for Infectious Diseases of Chinese PLA, Tangdu Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710038, China.
Guangxi
G
Ji
Yonghong
Y
Guo
Lin
L
Chen
Ying
Y
Zhang
Yu
Y
He
Li
L
Ma
Yu
Y
Wang
Zhiyuan
Z
Ma
Cheng
C
Cheng
Zhansheng
Z
Jia
D000328:Adult; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000821:virology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013156:Splenectomy; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000998:Antiviral Agents