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每日科学（2009年1月13日）一项新的研究显示丙肝病毒感染会增加一种高致命性癌症的风险，这种癌症叫做胆管树癌，胆管树是一条位于肝脏和胰腺之间的胆汁传输通道。
4百多万美国人感染了丙肝，可能导致慢性肝炎，肝硬化甚至肝癌。然而，这一病毒与其他潜在相关的癌症之间的联系，我们并不是很了解。
为了更好的了解丙肝与这些癌症之间的联系，研究者们随后展开了一项群组研究，研究对象是七十一万八千多退伍军人，这些军人曾于1988年10月1号到2004年9月30号期间，在退伍军人事务医疗机构进行过治疗。他们中有146,394人曾感染丙肝，572,293人没有。未感染者按照性别、年龄、类型和治疗时间进行分类。
研究者们平均2.3年测定一次这些研究对象的癌症发生率。他们发现，丙肝感染者患胆管树癌的概率即使很低，只有十万分之四，但仍然多于未感染过丙肝病毒患者的概率。
这项研究第一次正式的测定丙肝与胰腺癌之间的联系。也是第一次进行群体研究，来探索丙肝和这类癌症之间的联系。这项发现可能引发对一些罕见恶性疾病的更重大的研究。
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Hepatitis C May Increase Pancreatic Cancer Risk
ScienceDaily (Jan. 13, 2009) - A new study shows that infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) increases a person's risk for a highly fatal cancer of the biliary tree, the bile carrying pathway between the liver and pancreas.
More than 4 million Americans are infected with HCV, which causes chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and liver cancer. However, the associations between the virus and other potentially-related cancers are less clear.
To better understand the associations between HCV and these cancers, researchers led by Hashem El-Serag of Baylor College of Medicine, conducted a retrospective cohort study of more than 718,000 U.S. veterans who were treated at Veterans Affairs medical facilities between October 1, 1988 and September 30, 2004. Among them, 146,394 were infected with HCV and 572,293 were not. Uninfected subjects were matched to infected ones by sex, age and type and date of visit.
The researchers followed the subjects for an average of 2.3 years to determine the incidence these cancers. They found that "risk for biliary tree cancer in the HCV-infected cohort, although low (4 per 100,000 person-years), was more than double that in the HCV-uninfected cohort."
The study is the first to formally examine the association between HCV and pancreatic cancer. It is also the first time a significant association has been detected between HCV and this type of cancer in a large cohort study. The findings may lead to greater examination of rare malignancies.
Journal reference:
1. El-Serag, Hashem; Engels, Eric; Landgren, Ola; Henderson, Louise; Chiao, Elizabeth; Amaratunge, Harshinie; Giordano, Thomas. Risk of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Cancers Following Hepatitis C Virus Infection: A Population-based Study of U.S. Veterans. Hepatology, January 2009
Adapted from materials provided by Wiley-Blackwell.
来源：Wiley-Blackwell |
