Infectious source factors affecting the severity of sexually transmitted acute hepatitis due to hepatitis B virus genotype C.

Objective: The aim of this study was to identify clinical features and virological aspects of infectious sources that are related to the severity of sexually transmitted acute hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in patients, especially in cases of genotype C.

Methods: Nineteen patients with acute HBV infection, 10 classified with severe acute hepatitis (SH) (prothrombin time; PT <40%) and 9 with typical acute hepatitis (AH) (PT >40%), and their infectious sources (all were sexual partners) were studied. Infectious source factors were analyzed in relation to the severity of hepatitis in the patients' partners.

Chronological changes of causes of death and distant metastasis in hepatocellular carcinoma.

The diagnostic approaches, mode of therapies, frequencies of distant metastasis and causes of death in 139 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) between 1976 and 1998 were studied by dividing the total study duration into three periods. The period between 1976-1980 (period I) was characterized by the absence of periodic follow-up of the patients with chronic liver diseases, and operation was the only therapeutic choice for HCC. During 1981-1986 (period II), periodic screening of patients with chronic liver diseases was started using ultrasonography, and transarterial embolization became a second choice of therapy along with operation.