[Etiology, therapy and prognosis of chronic hepatitis]

The therapy and prognosis of chronic active hepatitis (CAH) depends upon the morphology (stage and activity of the liver process) and etiology. In our own long-term study (n = 167), HBV-markers were found in 72% of cases, and an additional 14% belonged to the non-B/non-autoimmune type. For neither form is an established therapy available. Interestingly, 50% of cases with autoimmune CAH had HBV markers. Steroid therapy seems to be beneficial only in cases with very active autoimmune CAH. The mortality in our series was around 50% for the HBV-type (with B-persistence) and for autoimmune CAH. In the HBV-type (with B-loss) and in the non-B/non-autoimmune type the mortality was around 15%.