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Significance of sublobular hepatic necrosis in the progression of chronic hepatitis C
Author(s) -
KAJINO K.,
HORIIKE N.,
TANIMOTO K.,
MICHITAKA K.,
AKA T.,
KANDA K.,
NAKANISHI K.,
DOI K.,
MASUMOTO T.,
MATSUURA B.,
ONJI M.,
OHTA Y.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
journal of gastroenterology and hepatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.214
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1440-1746
pISSN - 0815-9319
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1746.1993.tb01190.x
Subject(s) - medicine , gastroenterology , hepatocellular carcinoma , cirrhosis , exacerbation , necrosis , liver disease , pathology
The clinical characteristics of hepatitis C virus associated chronic liver diseases (C‐LD) in 17 patients were compared with hepatitis B virus associated diseases (B‐LD) in 47 patients, by analysing the histological findings of the liver and the change in serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level. The persistence of the moderate abnormality in ALT (> 100 IU/L) for longer than 1 year was more frequently seen in the C‐LD group ( P < 0.01), although the severe exacerbation of the disease with ALT higher than 500 IU/L was more frequent in the B‐LD group ( P < 0.01). The patients with the histological finding of sublobular hepatic necrosis (SN) in the C‐LD group progressed to advanced stages more frequently than those with SN in the B‐LD group ( P < 0.05). Furthermore, nine of 10 patients with SN in C‐LD finally progressed to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in 52 ± 23 months, whereas three of 16 with SN in B‐LD developed HCC in 81 ± 34 months. Although the morphological features of SN in C‐LD and B‐LD were almost the same, SN in C‐LD seemed to be a more significant diagnostic condition for the progression to liver cirrhosis or HCC. The patients with SN in the C‐LD group should be closely followed for the early detection of HCC, although further study with a greater number of patients is necessary.