Diagnosis and clinical impact of occult hepatitis B infection in patients with biopsy proven chronic hepatitis C: a multicenter study.

Occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in patients with chronic hepatitis C has been found associated with severe liver damage, low response to interferon treatment and increased risk of developing HCC. However, doubts remain on its clinical impact and the sensitivity and specificity of its detection. HBV-DNA was sought by PCR in plasma, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and liver compartments of 89 patients with biopsy proven chronic hepatitis C, using sets of primers for core ("c"), surface ("s"), and x ("x") regions of HBV genome.

CT-guided radiofrequency ablation: a potential complementary therapy for patients with unresectable primary lung cancer--a preliminary report of 33 patients.

Objective: We report our preliminary evaluation of the effectiveness, safety, technical feasibility, and complications of palliative CT-guided radiofrequency ablation of unresectable primary pulmonary malignancies.

Subjects And Methods: Thirty-three patients (26 men and seven women; age range, 44-75 years; mean age, 66 years) with unresectable malignant lung neoplasms underwent 35 CT-guided tumor ablation sessions. Follow-up CT was performed 6 months (29 cases) and 1 year (10 cases) after treatment.