HEPATITIS-C AND BILE-DUCT LOSS

Aim-To assess whether bile duct loss is associated with the bile duct damage induced by chronic hepatitis C. Methods-Sections were examined from 171 liver biopsy specimens from patients with chronic hepatitis C , 98 biopsy specimens from patients with chronic hepatitis B, 25 postm ortem specimens from patients with no evidence of liver disease, and 2 3 patients who underwent protocol liver biopsy at the time of cholecys tectomy. Results-The bile duct:portal tract ratio for the hepatitis C group was 0.89, for the hepatitis B group was 0.93 and for the two con trol groups was 0.96 and 0.90, respectively. The ratio was lower in th e hepatitis C group than in the other three. In no case of chronic hep atitis C was the ratio less than 0.60. In the hepatitis C group greate r bile duct loss was seen in cirrhotic patients. Conclusions-Hepatitis C is associated with bile duct loss and this was related to the stage of the disease. However, in the cases studied this did not reach what is generally considered to be significant (that is, greater than 50% of portal tracts lacking bile ducts). This does not preclude a contrib utory effect of hepatitis C to bile duct loss in the presence of other risk factors, especially in liver transplant recipients.