Effects of alcohol consumption on histological changes in chronic hepatitis C: a clinicopathological study.
BACKGROUND
To assess the effects of alcohol on the histological changes in chronic hepatitis type C, we performed histopathological examination on liver biopsy specimens by using a semiquantitative method.


METHODS
Subjects were 91 patients with chronic hepatitis type C and 32 with alcoholic liver disease. The patients with chronic hepatitis type C were classified into three groups according to the total amount of alcohol intake: nondrinkers, moderate drinkers, and heavy drinkers. For each patient, we evaluated pathological changes of several items and awarded scores from 0 to 2 points, with severe to moderate scoring 2 points, mild 1, and negative 0; the total score was then compared between groups. The evaluated histological changes included virus-related histological changes (V1, inflammatory cell infiltration; V2, lymphoid follicle formation; and V3, bile duct damage) and alcohol-related changes (A1, perivenular fibrosis; A2, stellate/pericellular fibrosis; and A3, fatty change).


RESULTS
The total scores of the hepatitis C virus-related histological changes were significantly lower in patients with alcoholic liver disease (ALD group) (p < 0.05). However, we found no significant difference between the different alcohol intake groups. The total score for alcohol-related histological changes significantly increased in line with increases in total alcoholic intake regardless of the presence or absence of hepatitis type C virus infection (p < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that both alcoholic-related liver damage and virus-related liver damage have specific features; in a addition, alcohol was found to have little effect on the histological liver damage observed in chronic hepatitis type C.
Tamai
T
T
Third Department of Internal Medicine, Kansai Medical University, Moriguchi, Osaka, Japan.
Seki
T
T
Shiro
T
T
Nakagawa
T
T
Wakabayashi
M
M
Imamura
M
M
Nishimura
A
A
Yamashiki
N
N
Takasu
M
M
Inoue
K
K
Okamura
A
A
D000328:Adult; D001706:Biopsy; D000431:Ethanol / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology*; D008108:Liver Diseases, Alcoholic / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood
D012367:RNA, Viral; D000431:Ethanol