Reduction of virus burden-induced splenectomy in patients with liver cirrhosis related to hepatitis C virus infection

Table 1 Characteristics of cirrhotic patients with HCV infection

	Splenectomy (+)	Splenectomy (-)
Age (yr)	62.6 ± 5.5	63.2 ± 13.6
Gender (m:f)	8:12	13:19
HCV Serotype
1	15	29
2	3	3
unknowna	2	0
Child’s Classification
A	11	18
B	6	8
C	3	6
Association of HCC	7/20	9/32
Total bilirubin (mg/dL)	1.2 ± 0.5	1.2 ± 0.7
Albumin (g/L)	35 ± 6	37 ± 4
γ-globulin (g/L)	23 ± 0.8	20 ± 5
AST (IU/L)	65.3 ± 30.5	61.8 ± 23.7
ALT (IU/L)	31.5 ± 9.1	25.1 ± 4.9
Platelets (×104 /μL)	15.2 ± 4.5	8.1 ± 2.7b
NK cell activity (%)	41.2 ± 19.3	24.7 ± 15.3b
CD4/CD8	1.2 ± 0.4	1.6 ± 0.6c
β2-MG (mg/L)	2.5 ± 1.2	2.4 ± 0.6n.s
sIL2R (U/mL)	917 ± 445	842 ± 190n.s

HCC: hepatocellular carcinoma; AST: aspartic aminotransferase; ALT: alanine aminotransferase; NK cells: natural killer cells; β2-MG: β2-microglobulin; sIL2R: soluble interleukin 2 receptor. a: undeterminable serotype; ^bP < 0.001, ^cP < 0.05 vs splenectomized patients; NS: no significant difference.

Table 2 Characteristics of cirrhotic patients after splenectomy

	Age	Sex	Years After splenectomy	Serotype	HCV RNA (kcopies/mL)	Child’s classification	association of HCC1
1	75	Female	19	1	23	C	no
2	60	Female	16	Unknown2	Negative	A	no
3	80	Female	15	1	140	A	no
4	70	Female	15	1	130	B	no
5	63	Male	14	1	2	B	yes
6	67	Female	12	1	460	A	no
7	62	Male	12	1	Negative	A	no
8	50	Male	12	1	Negative	A	no
9	73	Female	11	Unknown2	Negative	A	no
10	67	Female	11	2	< 1	B	no
11	50	Male	10	1	480	C	no
12	60	Female	7	1	140	B	yes
13	56	Female	7	1	160	C	yes
14	38	Male	6	1	770	A	no
15	68	Male	5	1	210	B	yes
16	73	Female	2	1	510	A	no
17	66	Female	2	2	21	A	no
18	59	Female	2	1	420	A	yes
19	58	Male	1	2	14	B	yes
20	57	Male	1	1	380	A	yes

¹ Hepatocellular carcinoma;

² undeterminable serotype.