A Controlled Prospective Study of Transfusion-Associated Hepatitis

Inclusion Criteria

• •Consecutive patients undergoing open-heart surgery at Georgetown University and Fairfax Hospital will be admitted to the study if:
• •They are 18 years of age or older;
• •They provide informed consent;
• •They reside in the United States and will be available for at least six months of follow up.
• •Patients with known hepatitis C or hepatitis B virus carriers with or without evidence of chronic hepatitis will be excluded.
• •Persons with a history of prior hepatitis will not be excluded, but will be analyzed as a separate cohort.
• •Patients with close exposure (household or sexual contact) to hepatitis in the preceding six months will be excluded.
• •Patients with elevated pre-operative alanine aminotransferase (ALT) will be excluded. An aspartate aminotransferase (AST) of between 45 and 75 IU per L will not serve as cause for exclusion if the corresponding ALT is normal on at least two occasions.
• •A preoperative AST greater than 75 IU/L will serve to exclude patients from study independent of the ALT.
• •Patients with blood transfusion in the six months preceding surgery will be excluded. Patients will also be retrospectively excluded if they receive blood more than one month after surgery.
• •The six month followup period will be timed from the date of the last transfusion.
• •Patients with alcoholism or other known liver or active biliary tract disease at the time of entrance into the study will be excluded.
• •Patients with inadequate veins from which to obtain required samples will be excluded.