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Copyright ©2005 Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Dec 7, 2005; 11(45): 7179-7182
Published online Dec 7, 2005. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v11.i45.7179
Histological outcome of chronic hepatitis B in children treated with interferon alpha
Sobaniec-Lotowska Maria Elzbieta, Lebensztejn Dariusz Marek
Sobaniec-Lotowska Maria Elzbieta, Department of Clinical Pathomorphology, Medical University of Bialystok, Poland
Lebensztejn Dariusz Marek, IIIrd Department of Pediatrics, Medical University of Bialystok, Poland
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to the work.
Correspondence to: Maria Sobaniec-Lotowska, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical Pathomorphology, Medical University of Bialystok, 13 Waszyngtona Str., 15-269 Bialystok, Poland. mariasl@zeus.amb.edu.pl
Telephone: +48-85-7485940 Fax: +48-85-7485990
Received: February 15, 2005
Revised: March 6, 2005
Accepted: March 9, 2005
Published online: December 7, 2005
Abstract

AIM: To evaluate the effect of interferon alpha (IFN-α) treatment on the liver histology in children with chronic hepatitis B and to evaluate the usefulness of various histological scoring systems of liver histology in this group of patients.

METHODS: Fibrosis stage and inflammation grade were assessed according to Batts and Ludwig, Ishak et al, and METAVIR (only fibrosis stage) before and 12 mo after IFN-α treatment termination in 93 children aged 2-16 years with chronic hepatitis B.

RESULTS: None of the three numerical scoring systems for liver fibrosis showed statistically significant differences in liver fibrosis, while evolution of inflammatory activity revealed statistically significant improvement in the whole group of children with chronic hepatitis B treated with IFN-α and in responders. Significantly positive correlations were found between fibrosis stage and inflammation grade in the respective scoring systems

CONCLUSION: Treatment with IFN-α did not improve histological fibrosis but decreased inflammatory activity in children with chronic hepatitis B. The three semiquantitative scoring systems seem to be comparable in the estimation of the inflammation grade and fibrosis stage in this group of children.

Keywords: Children; Chronic hepatitis B; Interferon alpha; Fibrosis stage, Inflammation grade; Semiquantitative scoring systems