Abstract
Two alcoholic patients with histological features of chronic hepatitis whose liver biopsies showed a decrease in inflammatory activity after abstinence, were reported. Both cases had a history of drinking more than 80g/day of ethanol for more than ten years, and had no history of blood transfusion, nor had HBsAg in their sera. At the first liver biopsies, mild to moderate lymphocyte infiltration in portal tract and piecemeal necrosis were associated with pericellular fibrosis, perivenular fibrosis and fatty metamorphosis. Both thier clinical and biochemical findings strikingly improved after abstinence. In the follow-up biopsies, marked decrease in inflammatory activity was noted after abstinence.
This is the first report in Japan in which an improvement of inflammatory activity of chronic hepatitis in alcoholics after abstinence is recognized. These results suggest that imrhunological mechanism may play a role, at least in a restricted case, in liver injury of alcohlic liver disease.
