K. Ohkawa et al., DISEASE STAGE OF CHRONIC HEPATITIS-C ASSESSED BY BOTH PERITONEOSCOPICAND HISTOLOGIC-FINDINGS AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH RESPONSE TO INTERFERON THERAPY, Gastrointestinal endoscopy, 45(2), 1997, pp. 168-175
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.