Long-term follow-up of chronic active hepatitis of moderate severity
A group of patients with only moderately active chronic hepatitis has been studied. The follow-up was long (mean 87 months). All patients except one were treated with prednisone and/or azathioprine. Of the hepatitis B virus positive patients two-thirds developed cirrhosis between the second and fift...
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Published in | Gut Vol. 19; no. 6; pp. 510 - 513 |
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Main Authors | , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
England
BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and British Society of Gastroenterology
01.06.1978
BMJ Publishing Group LTD |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | A group of patients with only moderately active chronic hepatitis has been studied. The follow-up was long (mean 87 months). All patients except one were treated with prednisone and/or azathioprine. Of the hepatitis B virus positive patients two-thirds developed cirrhosis between the second and fifth year of evolution, while in the hepatitis B negative group this occurred in less than one-third. The transition to cirrhosis was clinically silent. The patients were all allowed to do their normal work except in the terminal stages of cirrhosis. Five patients died of causes related to the disease: three patients with cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, one with gallbladder carcinoma, and one from bleeding varices. The high incidence of tumour, especially liver-cell carcinoma, may be due to a cumulative effect of the presence of hepatitis B virus, cirrhotic transformation, and immuno-suppression. The other patients are currently in apparently good health. |
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Bibliography: | ark:/67375/NVC-00500VGV-K istex:6B8C86EE8D2793516399E4822F1EFE6229FFF8A2 local:gutjnl;19/6/510 href:gutjnl-19-510.pdf PMID:680585 ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0017-5749 1468-3288 1458-3288 |
DOI: | 10.1136/gut.19.6.510 |