Long-term liver histology improvement in patients with chronic hepatitis C and sustained response to interferon

A retrospective multicentre survey was conducted to evaluate, in patients with chronic hepatitis C, the long‐term liver histological changes induced by interferon (IFN). A total of 112 patients (mean age 46.4 years) were studied. All patients had received a 6–12‐month IFN‐α course (6–18 MU/week) and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of viral hepatitis 2003-03, Vol.10 (2), p.126-133
Main Authors: Toccaceli, F., Laghi, V., Capurso, L., Koch, M., Sereno, S., Scuderi, M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Alanine Transaminase - blood
Biopsy
chronic hepatitis C
Female
HCV
Hepacivirus - growth & development
Hepacivirus - metabolism
Hepatitis C, Chronic - drug therapy
Hepatitis C, Chronic - pathology
Hepatitis C, Chronic - virology
Humans
interferon
Interferon-alpha - therapeutic use
liver biopsy
Liver Cirrhosis - pathology
Male
Middle Aged
Multicenter Studies as Topic
Recurrence
Retrospective Studies
RNA, Viral - blood
Statistics, Nonparametric
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Summary:A retrospective multicentre survey was conducted to evaluate, in patients with chronic hepatitis C, the long‐term liver histological changes induced by interferon (IFN). A total of 112 patients (mean age 46.4 years) were studied. All patients had received a 6–12‐month IFN‐α course (6–18 MU/week) and had successively undergone clinical, biochemical and virological follow‐up for at least 36 months (range: 36–76). In each patient, two liver biopsies had been performed: 1–6 months before treatment and, 12–76 months after its completion. In 87 patients with biochemical and virological sustained response persisting for 12 months after therapy, post‐treatment liver necroinflammation and fibrosis mean(±SD) scores (Knodell index) were significantly lower than pretreatment scores (2.9 ± 2.2 vs 6.8 ± 2.9 and 0.8 ± 1.0 vs 1.2 ± 1.1, respectively; P  0.05). On an individual basis, necroinflammation decreased in 87% of sustained responders but only in 36% of relapsers (P 
ISSN:1352-0504
1365-2893
DOI:10.1046/j.1365-2893.2003.00403.x