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.