CHRONIC HEPATITIS

Chronic hepatitis is defined as an inflammatory process of the liver t hat persists for longer than 6 months without showing a tendency to im prove. Despite a variety of aetiologies (infectious, autoimmune, toxic , genetic) the morphological picture can be uniform. There is a genera l tendency for chronic hepatitis to progress to hepatic cirrhosis and possibly even liver cancer. Of all forms of viral hepatitis, hepatitis B (approx. 10%) and hepatitis C (approx. 80%) are most likely to deve lop into chronic hepatitis. The only form of therapy to date which is known to eliminate the virus is treatment with interferon alpha. Autoi mmune hepatitis dan be classified into three types on the basis of imm unophenomena. Treatment is based primarily on glucocorticoids and azat hioprine. Autoimmune mechanisms in the bile ducts may also lead to chr onic inflammatory reactions. Treatment with ursodeoxycholic acid can a rrest the progression of both primary biliary cirrhosis and primary sc lerosing cholangitis, at least in the early stages.