Short-term versus sustained response to interferon therapy: effect on histology.

In order to evaluate the histological treatment response in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, different histological scoring systems have been developed. The scoring systems provide means of statistically comparing histopathological parameters in serial liver biopsies and have thus become important requirements of therapeutic trials. Patients with biochemical and virological responses to interferon (IFN) also improve histologically during treatment. However, after treatment cessation, many patients will have a biochemical/virological relapse. These short-term responders also relapse histologically, thus limiting the long-term benefit of a single treatment course, although, repeated courses of IFN in short-term responders may retard histological deterioration. In contrast, sustained biochemical/virological responders seem to have a durable histological response with a continuous and gradual improvement of all necroinflammatory parameters and fibrosis posttreatment.