Histological response is defined as an improvement in the severity of liver inflammation
with or without an improvement in fibrosis in patients following treatment for an
acute or chronic liver disorder. Histological response occurs in patients with chronic
hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection who have had a sustained virological response following
treatment with interferon (IFN) therapy and in a percentage of nonresponders. Continuing
IFN long term as maintenance therapy has been shown to prevent histological progression
in patients who had both a marked decline in serum HCV RNA level during treatment
and a histological response on repeat histological analysis. Prospective controlled
trials are currently evaluating the benefits of low-dose maintenance therapy with
pegylated IFN in HCV patients who have failed to achieve sustained virological response.
In the future, the development of serum markers of fibrosis may allow for monitoring
of hepatic fibrosis and histological response to therapy without the need to perform
repeat liver biopsy.
KEYWORDS
Liver biopsy - peginterferon - fibrosis - cirrhosis - treatment
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Samuel S LeeM.D.
Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary
3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB
T2N 4N1, Canada
eMail: samlee@ucalgary.ca
