COMMENTARY

Hepatitis C

Altered monoaminergic transporter binding in hepatitis C related cerebral dysfunction: a neuroimmunologial condition?

D M Forton

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr D M Forton
Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, St George’s Hospital, University of London, Blackshaw Rd, London SW17 0QT, UK; dforton@sgul.ac.uk

---

There may be a role for disturbed monoaminergic neurotransmission in the pathophysiology of hepatitis C virus associated cerebral dysfunction

---

Keywords: hepatitis C; fatigue; cognitive; serotonin; immune

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Fatigue, depression, and complaints of mild cognitive impairment, such as poor concentration and forgetfulness, are the commonest symptoms reported by patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.¹ Yet there remains considerable debate as to whether theses symptoms are caused by the virus itself. Fatigue is a multidimensional symptom with multiple, sometimes coexisting, determinants which may be biological, psychological, or sociological. It is an important cause of impaired health related quality of life (HRQL) in HCV infection.² Numerous surveys have documented high prevalences of fatigue but consistently show no relationship with the degree of liver fibrosis, markers of inflammation, or viral load.³ This has led to the conclusion that there is no causal relationship between HCV and neuropsychological symptoms.⁴ Rather, psychological processes associated with diagnostic labelling, social functioning, anxiety about treatment, substance abuse, and depression have been invoked to account for impairments in HRQL.^5,6 In contrast, a number . . . [Full text of this article]

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Article

Monoaminergic neurotransmission is altered in hepatitis C virus infected patients with chronic fatigue and cognitive impairment

K Weissenborn, J C Ennen, M Bokemeyer, B Ahl, U Wurster, H Tillmann, C Trebst, H Hecker, and G Berding
Gut 2006 55: 1624-1630. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Seaman, K., Paterson, B. L., Vallis, M., Hirsch, G., Peltekian, K. M. (2009). Future directions for investigation of fatigue in chronic hepatitis C viral infection. Chronic Illness 5: 115-128 [Abstract]