Diagnosis of seronegative chronic hepatitis in tissue

The evaluation of a liver biopsy in chronic hepatitis should make a stateme nt on the etiology and report the degree of activity and stage of the disea se. The category of so called seronegative chronic hepatitis may include ca ses of chronic hepatitis C or infection with other viruses such as the Epst ein-Barr virus (EBV) and cytomegalovirus (CMV), cases of marker-negative au toimmune hepatitis as well as drug-induced injury and Wilson's disease in y ounger patients. In order to establish the diagnosis, sensitive techniques of molecular biology should be applied as well as copper staining by histoc hemistry. Exact and detailed histopathologic analysis can reveal certain fe atures of autoimmune hepatitis or drug injury.