[A comparative study on clinical and pathological diagnosis in patients with chronic viral hepatitis]

To provide some suggestions for revision of "1995's program on prevention and treatment of viral hepatitis", a study on the correlation between clinical and pathological diagnosis of chronic hepatitis was performed.

The main clinical symptoms, signs, and laboratory data taken from 664 patients with mild, moderate and severe chronic viral hepatitis were analyzed and compared with their corresponding pathological findings.

The incidence of symptoms such as fatigue, poor appetite, nausea and flatulence was 51.5% to 91.2% in the order of the severity of hepatopathological damage. Splenomegaly and spider nevus showed a close correlation with the degree of pathological changes, especially with the former the incidence being 25.4%, 35.8% and 41.1% among the mild, moderate and severe groups respectively (P < 0.01). In addition to ALT and other five laboratory parameters listed in the program, a remarkable difference of AST and platelet count was also shown in the three groups. There was a better correlation between laboratory results and pathological findings in mild chronic hepatitis, and each one might attain from 65.4% to 93.6%, but this was not so in moderate except for A/G(53.2%) and in severe except for ALT(30.2%) according to the "1995's program on prevention and treatment of viral hepatitis".

A comprehensive judgment for the diagnosis of chronic viral hepatitis should combine clinical symptoms, signs and laboratory results. Great attention should be paid to the significance of clinical symptoms and splenomegaly. AST and platelet count might be included as diagnostic parameters in the new revised program on prevention and treatment of viral hepatitis.