Hepatocellular Carcinoma in 2 Young Adolescents With Chronic Hepatitis C
Hepatocellular Carcinoma in 2 Young Adolescents With Chronic Hepatitis C
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DOI：
10.1097/mpg.0b013e318170af04
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发表时间：
2009-05-01
影响因子：
2.9
通讯作者：
Schwarz, Kathleen B.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Gonzalez-Peralta, Regino P.;Langham, Max R., Jr.;Schwarz, Kathleen B.
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a global health problem affecting 170 million individuals worldwide. In the United States, there are approximately 7 million adults and 100,000 children chronically infected with HCV (1, 2). The importance of HCV infection stems from its proclivity to cause insidious liver damage over many years, including chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and liver cancer. In adults, HCV infection is a leading cause for liver cancer worldwide (3). The financial burden of this viral infection is staggering, with projected medical costs of $10.7 billion in adults from 2010 to 2019 and approximately $426 million during the next 10 years in children (4, 5).The epidemiology, clinical outcome, and risk factors associated with progression of HCV-related liver disease are fairly well characterized in adults. Although the natural history of childhood HCV infection is poorly defined, it appears to be an indolent disease in most children (6–13); however, progressive liver disease, including chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis necessitating liver transplantation, can occur in children (14, 15). Unlike in adults, liver cancer, particularly hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), is rare in children (16), but it was described in 2 young adults infected with HCV during childhood (17). Herein we extend these observations and present 2 children with chronic hepatitis C who developed HCC as adolescents. To our knowledge, they are the youngest HCV-infected patients to be reported as having this complication. These cases illustrate the potentially ominous course of HCV infection, and highlight the
