Fræðigrein

Objective: Hepatitis C is a common cause of chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis in Western countries. In recent years a large group of individuals have been diagnosed with the disease in Iceland. The aim of this study was to investigate histological parameters of patients with hepatitis C and to correlate histolgical findings with clinical findings.

Materials and methods: In this retrospective study, all patients diagnosed with hepatitis C in Iceland that had a liver biopsy in the years 1991-2001 were included. Data on age, route of infection, duration of infection and co-infection was obtained from medical records. Liver biopsy specimens were evaluated and imflammatory activity graded and the degree of fibrosis staged.

Results: In all 97 patients (58 males, 39 females) were included in the study. The mean age was 35.6 years (range 11-64). Risk factros were intravenous drug abuse in 70 (72.6%), blood transfusion in 12 (12.4%) and eight had no known risk factors. Estimated duration of infection was 8.85 years (range 1-31). Average inflammatory grade was 2.84 (range 0-8) and average fibrosis stage was 0.95 (range 0-6). The majoritiy (72.6%) of patients had minimal or no inflammation and 85.5% had minimal or no fibrosis. Only four patients had cirrhosis. Significant correlation was observed between the age at infection and the degree of fibrosis. No correlation was detected between the duration of infection or route of infection and histopathological parameters.

Conclusion: Patients with hepatitis C that underwent a liver biopsy in 1991-2000 had mild histopathological changes in the liver. This is most likely due to short duration of infection and young age of the patients in this study.