Persistent acute hepatitis, an evolutive modality of the acute viral hepatitis, with high cirrhogenic potential

An early detection of the progress to chronic stages of the acute diseases has particular pathogenic and therapeutic implications in hepatology. A complex clinical, biologic and morphologic study has been carried out in 86 patients with persistent acute hepatitis, recently released after 4-8 weeks of hospitalization for acute viral hepatitis, who were submitted to sequential investigations and follow up for a mean period of 16 months (range 2-24 months). All the patients have shown signs of activity of the liver injury, more than three months after the viral hepatitis onset (GOT/GPT 134 +/- 41 KU/219 +/- 59 KU, gammaglobulins 24.2 +/- 2.4%) and a characteristic immune pattern. In some cases, the morphologic investigations (endo-histologic and infrastructural) have revealed elements of acute and chronic active hepatitis. In 70% of the case the disease had a favourable course, while 30% of them showed a tendency to chronicization and even to cirrhosis, within a period of two years.