Histological outcome of chronic hepatitis B in children treated with interferon alpha.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effect of interferon alpha (IFN-alpha) treatment on the liver histology in children with chronic hepatitis B and to evaluate the usefulness of various histological scoring systems of liver histology in this group of patients.


METHODS
Fibrosis stage and inflammation grade were assessed according to Batts and Ludwig, Ishak et al., and METAVIR (only fibrosis stage) before and 12 mo after IFN-alpha treatment termination in 93 children aged 2-16 years with chronic hepatitis B.


RESULTS
None of the three numerical scoring systems for liver fibrosis showed statistically significant differences in liver fibrosis, while evolution of inflammatory activity revealed statistically significant improvement in the whole group of children with chronic hepatitis B treated with IFN-alpha and in responders. Significantly positive correlations were found between fibrosis stage and inflammation grade in the respective scoring systems.


CONCLUSIONS
Treatment with IFN-alpha did not improve histological fibrosis but decreased inflammatory activity in children with chronic hepatitis B. The three semiquantitative scoring systems seem to be comparable in the estimation of the inflammation grade and fibrosis stage in this group of children.
Maria Elzbieta
Sobaniec-Lotowska
SL
Department of Clinical Pathomorphology, Medical University of Bialystok, 13 Waszyngtona Str., 15-269 Bialystok, Poland. mariasl@zeus.amb.edu.pl
Marek
Lebensztejn Dariusz
LD
D000293:Adolescent; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000473:pathology; D007370:Interferon Type I / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011994:Recombinant Proteins
D000998:Antiviral Agents; D007370:Interferon Type I; D011994:Recombinant Proteins