Liver biopsy findings in patients with alcoholic liver disease complicated by chronic hepatitis C virus infection.

OBJECTIVE

To identify the features of concurrent hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in liver biopsies from patients thought to have alcoholic liver disease.

PATIENTS

Fifty-five patients with a history of excess alcohol consumption were studied.

METHODS

All patients underwent liver biopsy.

RESULTS

Eight of the 55 patients studied were found to be HCV-positive.

CONCLUSION

The histological features found to be most useful for identifying concurrent HCV infection were the presence of lymphoid aggregates in portal tracts (predictive value 100%), the presence of lymphocytes in the lobules (predictive value 83%), and the pattern of fibrosis, particularly periportal spurring rather than perivenular fibrosis (predictive value 75%).