الفهرس 
Introduction and Aim of the WorkOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
The world’s population has a high prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection. Egypt is the country with the highest prevalence of HCV infection with almost 20% of the population beinginfected and where HCV is becoming an increasing public health burden. Mortality associated with chronic HCV infection is mainly attributable to progression of hepatic fibrosis and subsequent occurrence of cirrhosis with its complications of hepatocellular carcinoma and portal hypertension. Hepatic iron concentration (HIC) has been shown in several studies to be only mildly to moderately elevate in HCV infection. The pathogenic role hepatic iron via the generation of oxidative stress is well established. Iron mediates this process by catalyzing the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) through the Fenton reaction. This study was performed to describe the current understanding of the relationship between hepatic iron, serum iron indices and role of hepatic iron in the generation of oxidative stress in relation to progression of liver disease in chronic hepatitis C. selected patients were divided into three groups according to Metavir staging (Scoring system for the assessment of fibrosis): patients with Fibrosis (F≤3), patients with Cirrhosis (F=4), and patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. They are compared with group of individuals free from any disease were taken as a controls. Serum iron, serum transferring saturation, serum ferritin, hepatic iron concentration and liver histological findings. Also some antioxidants and oxidative stress were measured in all patients and in healthy control group such as superoxide dismutase as enzymatic antioxidant, reduced glutathione (GSH) as non enzymatic antioxidant and malondialdehyde (MDA) as an end product of lipid peroxidation.