title: The effect of standard therapy on mean platelet volume in patients with chronic hepatitis C.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Chronic hepatitis C (CHC) infection is a systemic disorder that can lead to liver inflammation, fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular cancer. The mean platelet volume (MPV) is widely used as an inflammatory marker to evaluate the platelet function and the status of systemic inflammation.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the pre- and post-treatment MPV values in CHC patients who were administered a 48-week antiviral therapy based on systemic inflammation.
  
  
  METHODS
  We enrolled 28 patients, diagnosed with CHC genotype 1b, who received a 48-week antiviral therapy and attended regular follow-up, and 28 healthy individuals. In diagnosing CHC, a positive anti-HCV for a minimum duration of 6 months and a positive serum HCV RNA were accepted as the criteria. The patients were assigned to one of two groups based on their group 1 (pre-treatment values) and group 2 (post-treatment values) after 3 months therapy. We analysed and compared the blood samples of all of the groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The MPV value was 8.89 ±1.20 in group 1 and 8.00 ±1.07 in group 2, and 8.21 ±1.18 in the control group. The value in group 1 was detected to be statistically significantly different from that in group 2 and the control group (p< 0.0001,p= 0.045, respectively). No statistically significant difference was observed between group 2 and the control group (p= 0.455).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of this study suggest that MPV could represent an inexpensive marker for use in assessing low-grade inflammation in patients with CHC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Eskisehir Military Hospital, Eskisehir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ali Ugur
authors.initials: AU
authors.lastname: Uslu
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Etimesgut Military Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Bahattin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Aydin
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Gulhane School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Sevket
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Balta
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Faculty of Medicine, Cumhuriyet University, Sivas, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ozlem
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Yonem
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Cumhuriyet University, Sivas, Turkey.
authors.forename: Tunahan
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Uncu
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Cumhuriyet University, Sivas, Turkey.
authors.forename: Dogan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Seven
keywords: chronic hepatitis C; inflammation; liver; mean platelet volume; standard therapy