[Liver histopathological characteristics in patients with HCV-positive sera]

In order to have knowledge on the histopathologic characteristics of the HCV infections in our geographical area and its relation with some epidemiologic variables, a series of 54 biopsies of Anti HCV (R) patients was analyzed. The histologic lesions found in this study correspond mostly to patients with relatively early infections, on the contrary to other studies of the some kind. The most frequent histopathologic diagnosis were chronic hepatitis 38/54 (70.4%), steatosis 4/54 (7.4%) and 12/54 (22.2%) with no changes. The presence of lymphoid follicles in the portal tracts was the most frequent histological change in this series (66.7%), followed by the alteration in bile ducts (53.7%); they occurred in a significantly higher proportion in the biopsies which had a diagnosis of chronic hepatitis (p = 0.02) (p = 0.000002). The presence of steatosis and acidophilic bodies in the acinus were found in nearly one third of the biopsies. This findings suggest that the hepatic damage in the anti HCV reactive patients might take place through immunologic mechanisms and cytopathic direct action. It was not found that histologic changes produced by HCV might differ according to epidemiologic variables (post-transfusional, drug abuse i.v. and sporadic).