Case report: detection of a hepatitis B surface antigen variant emerging in an elderly patient after an ischemic cerebral vascular accident.

HBV reactivations are observed frequently in patients with past hepatitis B infection receiving cytotoxic and/or immunosuppressive chemotherapy for hemato-oncological malignancies or autoimmune diseases. Recent ischemic stroke was shown to induce immunodepression by misunderstood mechanisms. To our knowledge, the association between HBV reactivation and ischemic stroke has not been reported before. This study reports the case of an anti-HBs- and anti-HBc-positive patient who presented HBV reactivation in a context of recent ischemic stroke, with no other intercurrent iatrogenic phenomenon or usual immunosuppressive pathology.
(Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)