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Background: Recent reports suggest a decline of delta hepatitis (DH) in the West as well as in the Far East. Aim: To study the DH seroepidemiology in Turkey. Methods: Statistical power analysis was utilized based on data available in a recent article using prevalence figure estimates. Binominal distribution was applied in order to assess the number of samples required to estimate the prevalence with a given precision. Results: Out of 62 studies in the original study, 32 were eliminated because of insufficient power. A total of 6734 patients (5231 with chronic hepatitis and 1503 with cirrhosis) were analysed. Anti-HDV seropositivity among patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and hepatitis B-induced cirrhosis was lowest in the west of the country and highest in the southeast (5 vs. 27%, P

The pancreas. The clinical pre-sentation may vary from edematous pancreatitis, a milder form, to necroti-zing pancreatitis, which has an unfavorable clinical course. The most com-mon etiological agents are bile stones and alcohol. Hypertriglyceridemia can also cause acute pancreatitis. The risk of acute pancreatitis increases when se­rum triglyceride levels exceed 1000 mg/L. Herein, we present a case wth type I familial hyperlipidemia who presented with hypertriglyceridemia-induced acute pancreatitis, which did not respond to conservative treatment but only abated after plasmapheresis., Akut pankreatit pankreasın akut inflamasyonudur. Hastalığın hafif bir şekli olan ödematöz pankreatitten, ağır bir klinikle seyreden nekrotizan pankreati-te kadar farklı klinik şekillerde prezente olabilir. Etyolojide en sık sebep, saf­ra taşları ve alkoldür. Hipertrigliseridemi de akut pankreatite yol açabilir. Se­rum trigliserid düzeyi 1000 mgr/dl ve üstüne çıktığında akut pankreatit riski artar. Biz Tip I ailevi hiperlipidemisi olan, hipertrigliseridemiye bağlı akut pankreatitle başvuran, konservatif tedaviye rağmen akut pankreatit tablosu yatışmayan ve plazmaferez ile klinik düzelme sağlanan bir olgu sunacağız.

BACKGROUND Chronic infection with hepatitis B virus and hepatitis delta virus (HDV) results in the most severe form of viral hepatitis. There is no currently approved treatment. We investigated the safety and efficacy of 48 weeks of treatment with peginterferon alfa-2a plus adefovir dipivoxil, peginterferon alfa-2a alone, and adefovir dipivoxil alone. METHODS We conducted a randomized trial in which 31 patients with HDV infection received treatment with 180 mu g of peginterferon alfa-2a weekly plus 10 mg of adefovir daily, 29 received 180 mu g of peginterferon alfa-2a weekly plus placebo, and 30 received 10 mg of adefovir alone weekly for 48 weeks. Follow-up was conducted for an additional 24 weeks. Efficacy end points included clearance of HDV RNA, normalization of alanine aminotransferase levels, and a decline in levels of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). RESULTS The primary end point - normalization of alanine aminotransferase levels and clearance of HDV RNA at week 48 - was achieved in two patients in the group receiving peginterferon alfa-2a plus adefovir and two patients in the group receiving peginterferon alfa-2a plus placebo but in none of the patients in the group receiving adefovir alone. At week 48, the test for HDV RNA was negative in 23% of patients in the first group, 24% of patients in the second, and none of those in the third (P=0.006 for the comparison of the first and third groups; P=0.004 for the comparison of the second and third). The efficacy of peginterferon alfa-2a was sustained for 24 weeks after treatment, with 28% of the patients receiving peginterferon alfa-2a plus adefovir or peginterferon alfa-2a alone having negative results on HDV-RNA tests; none of the patients receiving adefovir alone had negative results. A decline in HBsAg levels of more than 1 log(10) IU per milliliter from baseline to week 48 was observed in 10 patients in the first group, 2 in the second, and none in the third (P