title: Persistent acute hepatitis, an evolutive modality of the acute viral hepatitis, with high cirrhogenic potential.
abstract: An early detection of the progress to chronic stages of the acute diseases has particular pathogenic and therapeutic implications in hepatology. A complex clinical, biologic and morphologic study has been carried out in 86 patients with persistent acute hepatitis, recently released after 4-8 weeks of hospitalization for acute viral hepatitis, who were submitted to sequential investigations and follow up for a mean period of 16 months (range 2-24 months). All the patients have shown signs of activity of the liver injury, more than three months after the viral hepatitis onset (GOT/GPT 134 +/- 41 KU/219 +/- 59 KU, gammaglobulins 24.2 +/- 2.4%) and a characteristic immune pattern. In some cases, the morphologic investigations (endo-histologic and infrastructural) have revealed elements of acute and chronic active hepatitis. In 70% of the case the disease had a favourable course, while 30% of them showed a tendency to chronicization and even to cirrhosis, within a period of two years.
mesh_terms: D001706:Biopsy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D006521:Hepatitis, Chronic / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000209:etiology*; D008111:Liver Function Tests; D008297:Male; D012306:Risk; D013997:Time Factors