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A warning advising a higher risk of hepatotoxicity in antiretroviral-naive patients starting a nevirapine-containing combination antiretroviral therapy (NcART) has been issued by health authorities. It is unclear whether this higher risk also applies to stable virologically suppressed patients starting NcART. MethodsWe performed a meta-analysis of published randomized studies including virologically suppressed patients who switched to NcART with a follow-up ! 3 months. CD4 cell cell counts were classified as high (HCD4) (400 cells/mL for males and 250 cells/mL for females) or low (LCD4). The main endpoint was hepatotoxicity within the first 3 months. ResultsFour studies with a pooled total of 410 patients were included. The risk of hepatotoxicity within the first 3 months was 2% and 4% in the LCD4 and HCD4 groups, respectively, with a combined odds ratio of 1.46 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.43-4.98; P 5 0.54]. The risk of hepatotoxicity at any point during the study was similar in both groups, with a combined hazard ratio of 0.8 (95% CI 0.3-2.5; P 5 0.80). ConclusionsIn our study, virologically suppressed patients switching to nevirapine did not have a significantly higher risk of hepatotoxicity or rash when stratified by gender and CD4 cell count, although small differences may have gone undetected because of the sample size limitation.

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The mean turnaround time for the 501 specimens was 6.24 (SD = 3.16; range = 2-27 days). Turnaround times varied substantially according to specimen type. Endoscopic biopsy samples were completed by 5.19 days (SD = 2.18). Bone biopsies were finalized within a mean of 8.11 days of receipt (SD = 3.18). For the diagnosis of lymphoproliferative disorders, most lymph node specimens required special histochemical or immunohistochemical stains. The mean turnaround time for results reporting/results transmittal to the ordering physician varied between 1.14 and 1.66 days. The 1992 annual mean turnaround time for a total of 14,862 surgical pathology specimens was 5.7 days as compared with 4.2 days for a total of 17,931 surgical pathology specimens in 1994.