[Hepatitis: the problem of terminology (author's transl)]

Every case of hepatitis must be defined as far as possible on the basis of four reference criteria: aetiological, clinical presentation, histological and course. Each criterion offers information concerning the classification, severity and course of the disease. The use of these criteria makes it possible to avoid all errors of interpretation and to avoid imprecise terminology, a typical example of which is "subacute hepatitis" which for some implies severe acute hepatitis running a prolonged course and for others the existence of confluent necrosis without it being possible to say whether this should be classified amongst cases of acute hepatitis or chronic hepatitis. The terms acute and chronic should retain their clinical significance, the term aggressive should retain a histological significance and, insofar as the piecemeal necrosis which characterises it is seen in both types of hepatitis, it should be dissociated, in terms of classification, from chronic hepatitis.