Evolving strategy for HCV testing in an Italian tertiary care hospital |
| |
| Institution: | 1. Unit of Microbiology and Virology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Parma, 43126 Parma, Italy;2. Abbott Diagnostics Division, 00144 Roma, Italy;1. St Michael''s Medical Center, Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, 111 Central Avenue, Newark, NJ 07101, United States;2. UMDNJ, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, 1 World''s Fair Drive, Somerset, NJ 08873, United States;3. New Jersey Department of Health, Division of HIV, STD and TB Services, 50 East State Street, P.O. Box 363, Trenton, NJ 08625, United States;4. UMDNJ, New Jersey Medical School, Department of Medicine, 185 South Orange Avenue, Newark, NJ 07103, United States;1. Well Living Lab, Rochester, Minnesota;2. Mayo Clinic, College of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota;3. Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota;4. Department of Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota;5. Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota;1. Unit of Microbiology and Virology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Parma, Parma, Italy;2. Department of Veterinary Medicine, University Aldo Moro of Bari, Valenzano, Italy;3. Veterinary Medical Research Institute, Centre for Agricultural Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary;1. Dipartimento di Medicina Clinica e Sperimentale, Unità di Microbiologia e Virologia, Università degli Studi di Parma, Parma, Italy;2. Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, Università Aldo Moro di Bari, Valenzano, Italy;3. Dipartimento di Scienze per la Promozione della Salute e Materno Infantile “G. D’Alessandro”, Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy |
| |
| Abstract: | BackgroundDiagnostic tests for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection should be adapted according to the clinical status of the patient.ObjectivesWe exploited the application of different HCV diagnostic algorithms in a tertiary care hospital practice.Study designThe laboratory clinical reports to the medical orders for HCV testing during three years were clustered by different combinations of assays for anti-HCV antibodies (HCV Ab) (screening and confirmatory), HCV nucleic acid (HCV-RNA), HCV core antigen (HCV Ag). The latter was the first-line assay in acute HCV infections requiring a rapid assessment of the infectious state.ResultsThe majority (91.9%) of the 2726 subjects whose samples were analyzed were inpatients. Most of the patients/subjects were tested for clinical suspicion of viral hepatitis (49.2%), or occupational accident to health care professionals (20.0%). On 66% of samples HCV Ag test alone was performed and resulted positive in 116 cases (6%), while it was detected in 50.3% of anti-HCV positive samples. The agreement between HCV Ag and HCV-RNA was very high (k = 0.97); HCV Ag positivity rates increased according to the signal of the HCV Ab screening test.ConclusionsThe use of different testing strategies according to the patients’ history and clinical status allowed a significant reduction of the number of tests performed and the time needed to provide a diagnostic response useful for patients’ management without compromising the overall diagnostic accuracy for HCV infection. |
| |
| Keywords: | Hepatitis C HCV antigen Diagnostic algorithms HCV-RNA HCV infection diagnosis |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
