Esophageal lichen planus and hepatitis C: Review of the literature

Lichen planus (LP) is an inflammatory disease of autoimmune origin affecting the skin and mucosa with a population prevalence of 0.5%-1.5%. Esophageal involvement with LP is very rare. Oral LP has been associated with chronic liver disease, particularly Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The treatment of hepatitis C, at present, is based on pegylated interferon (Peg-INF) and ribavirin. The relationship between LP and treatment of HCV remains uncertain. Some case series have indicated a worsening of oral lichen planus lesions during interferon based treatment but this association is not clear. In this paper, we report the first case in the literature of a patient with esophageal lichen planus related to HCV infection and provide a review of the pertinent world's literature.