Fatal fulminant herpes simplex hepatitis following surgery in an adult

Table 3 Clinical features of herpetic hepatitis in surgical and non-surgical immunocompetent patients before 1985 and after 1986 (acyclovir era)

	Postsurgical patients (n = 15)	Non-surgical patients (n = 42)	P value (Postsurgical vs Non-surgical)
Ante-mortem diagnosis
Yes/ no (before 1985) (n)	0/4 (0%)	3/6 (33.3%)	0.497
Yes/ no (since 1986) (n)
	3/8 (27.3%)	21/12 (63.4%)	0.040
P values
(before1985 vs since 1986)
	0.363	0.166
ACV treatment
Yes/ no (before 1985) (n)	0/4 (0%)	0/9 (0%)	1.0
Yes/ no (since 1986) (n )
	3/8 (27.3%)	21/12 (63.4%)	0.040
P values
(before1985 vs since 1986)
	0.363	0.013
Outcome
Survived/ died (before 1985) (n)	1/3 (25%)	0/9 (0%)	0.308
Survived/ died (since 1986) (n)
	1/10 (9.2%)	12/21 (36.4%)	0.086
P values
(before1985 vs since 1986)
	0.476	0.0321
Timing of ACV treatment1	8 (4-10) (n = 3)	10 (6-15) (n = 16)	0.365
Outcome after ACV treatment
Survived/ died	1/3 (25%)	12/9 (57%)	0.322

Continuous data were presented as median with range from minimum and maximum values. For categorical variables and continuous measures, differences were compared using Fisher’s exact test or χ² test and the Mann-Whitney U test, respectively.

¹Timing of ACV treatment: Data were expressed as the days after liver dysfunction emerged. ACV: Acyclovir.