Treatment of HBsAg-positive chronic active hepatitis with corticosteroids and/or azathioprine. A prospective study

204 patients with biopsy-proven CAH were observed for at least one year with periodic examinations including a second liver biopsy for each patient. Patients were assigned at random to a group left untreated or treated with either azathioprine 100 mg daily, or prednisolone (Dutimelan 8 15), or prednisolone plus azathioprine 50 mg daily. The outcome, assessed on clinical, biochemical and histological parameters, was correlated to the presence or absence of HBeAg and its antibody. No treatment was effective in HBeAg-positive patients whereas, among anti-HBe-positive patients, those who were treated with the association of steroids and azathioprine more frequently showed improvement and less frequently deteriorated (p less than 0.01) than untreated patients. Thus, HBsAg/anti-HBe-positive patients with CAH may be treated with the combination of these drugs, even though many side-effects may occur and there are frequent relapses after discontinuation of treatment.