[Histopathology of viral hepatitis C]

In patients with C virus, liver biopsy is an essential examination for diagnosis of chronic hepatitis. This examination evaluates the two basic lesions of the disease: aggressivity and fibrosis. During antiviral treatment, only liver biopsy is able to give precise details about liver lesions and no reliable serum test is yet available for the follow-up. Molecular biology methods applied to liver sections for viral genome detection will be of great interest for follow up and pathophysiology of the chronic disease. These sensitive techniques will supply absence of any pathognomonic histological feature associated with C virus in liver tissue.