DISEASE STAGE OF CHRONIC HEPATITIS-C ASSESSED BY BOTH PERITONEOSCOPICAND HISTOLOGIC-FINDINGS AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH RESPONSE TO INTERFERON THERAPY

Background: Disease stage in patients with chronic hepatitis C was ass essed by both peritoneoscopy and histology and correlated with respons es to interferon therapy. Methods: The subjects were 105 patients with chronic hepatitis C treated with interferon who were classified into 28 sustained responders, 34 transient responders, and 43 nonresponders according to alanine aminotransferase normalization. The influence of various patient's characteristics on responses to interferon therapy was investigated by multivariate analysis. Results: Patients were cate gorized into 21 patients who exhibited a ''smooth liver'' an peritoneo scopy and did not demonstrate histologic bridging fibrosis (group I) a nd 84 patients who exhibited a ''granular'' or ''nodular liver'' on pe ritoneoscopy and/or had histologic bridging fibrosis (group II). Multi variate analysis showed that genotype 2a/2b (p = .0002), low viremia ( p = .0048), and early disease stage (group I) (p = .0290) were signifi cant independent factors contributing to sustained response, and that early disease stage (group I) (p = .0010) and genotype 2a/2b (p = .008 5) were those contributing to sustained or transient response. Neither peritoneoscopic nor histologic findings alone were a significant fact or influencing responses to interferon therapy. Conclusion: Disease st age assessed by both peritoneoscopic and histologic findings may serve as a reliable marker for predicting responses to interferon therapy i n chronic hepatitis C.