[Clinical characteristics, course and diagnosis of chronic progressive liver diseases in patients with a history of acute viral hepatitis].

Based on examination of 144 patients with chronic active hepatitis (CAH) and liver cirrhosis (LC) with a history of acute virus hepatitis (AVH) it was established that chronic progressive liver injuries of virus etiology with and without HB-antigenemia are characterized by the diversity of the clinico-laboratory findings determined by the involvement, in addition to the liver, of many organs and systems. The following variants of chronic AVH were recognized: (1) early development of chronic progressive liver injury due to AVH (40.4% of cases); (2) late occurrence of chronic progressive liver injury after a latent period of varying duration, namely up to 21-30 years and more (59% of cases). Late recognition of CAH and LC in patients with a history of AVH was caused, on the one hand, by a high rate of chronic progressive liver injuries after a long-term period, and on the other hand, by erroneous evaluation of extrahepatic lesions, which were the first symptoms of a chronic condition in many patients. Hepatitis virus B markers were detected in the blood serum of 44.5% of patients with CAH and LC with a history of AVH, mostly in men (55.3%) versus women (34.9%). In view of the difficulties of verifying liver injuries of virus etiology based on the laboratory research methods alone, one should be guided by a clinico-epidemiological approach to a study of CAH and LC etiology.