In addition to longer duration of infection, older patients acquiring HCV may have a more aggressive course. A discriminant score of greater than 7 predicts cirrhosis and less than 3 predicts no cirrhosis. In a recent study reported by Poynard et al.,12 the lack of fibrosis or fibrosis limited to the portal tract was associated with favorable outcome and sustained virologic response to antiviral therapy. The fact that no serious complications were seen is likely a function of the limited number of patients enrolled in our study. In summary, our study shows that in patients with chronic HCV, liver biopsy provides important information about the stage of liver disease.
Additional diagnoses are less common than clinicians suspect.
Unsuspected additional diagnoses were rare and consisted only of fatty liver disease. Additionally, the role of sequential liver biopsy in clinical research in assessing the natural history of HCV infection or the impact of therapy on the rate of progression of fibrosis remains important. References TOP 1. Alter M, Kruszon-Moran D, Nainan O, McQuillan G, Gao F, Moyer L, Kaslow R, et al. Hepatitis C update.