Sixty-nine patients with chronic active hepatitis without cirrhosis were studied to define the prognostic implications of bridging necrosis of various types. There were 19 patients without bridging necrosis compared with 50 patients with bridging necrosis. The two groups did not differ significantly at presentation in age, sex, clinical or laboratory features. In the group without bridging necrosis, no patient died from the disease and none of 13 having a later biopsy developed cirrhosis. In the group with bridging necrosis, one patient died from hepatic failure and 7 of 36 developed cirrhosis (19%). When analyzed statistically, a significant (p less than 0.05) relationship is seen between increasing severity of initial lesion and the subsequent development of cirrhosis. It is concluded that patients with piecemeal necrosis without bridging should not be grouped together with patients with bridging necrosis or cirrhosis when considering management decisions.
In order to test the hypothesis that serum levels of the amino terminal propeptide of type III procollagen (PPCP III) reflect hepatic fibrosis, we have studied PPCP III levels in 30 patients with genetic haemochromatosis (GH), a disease which is characterized by progressive fibrosis without significant inflammation or necrosis. Patients with alcoholic liver disease and chronic hepatitis were included as comparative diseases in which fibrosis occurs concurrently with inflammation and necrosis. Of 13 GH cases with cirrhosis, four (30%) had normal serum PPCP III levels, while of 17 GH cases without cirrhosis, two (12%) had elevated levels. The mean serum concentrations of the cirrhotic and non‐cirrhotic GH groups were not significantly different when patients with excessive alcohol consumption (> 80 g/day) were excluded from the GH groups. In 29 subjects with alcoholic liver disease, serum PPCP III correlated significantly with both fibrosis (P < 0.01) and necrosis (P < 0.02) but not with inflammation. In 23 subjects with chronic hepatitis, PPCP III levels correlated significantly with inflammation when assessed histologically (P < 0.01) or as reflected by serum AST (P < 0.01), but not with fibrosis or necrosis. Furthermore, the correlation between PPCP III and inflammation was not strengthened when the three features (inflammation, necrosis and fibrosis) were combined into a single variable. We conclude that elevated PPCP III levels in chronic liver disease do not reflect solely the extent of fibrosis but are also influenced by inflammation and necrosis and are thus of limited clinical value in predicting hepatic histopathology.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.