Effect of pregnancy on chronic hepatitis C: a case-control study

There is evidence of deterioration of hepatitis C after pregnancy. To inves tigate potential histological changes, we compared liver biopsy samples tak en before and after delivery from 12 women positive for hepatitis C virus ( HCV) and 12 non-pregnant HCV-positive women. Semiquantitative histopatholog ical measurements showed greater deterioration In cases than in controls (n ecroinflammatory score deterioration 83.3% vs 25.0%; fibrosis score 41.6% v s 8.3%). This case-control study suggests that pregnancy may worsen HVCV-re lated histopathological injury.