Hepatitis B virus genomes of chronic hepatitis patients do not contain specific mutations related to acute exacerbation

Clinical Manifestations and Laboratory Tests of AECHB and Severe Hepatitis (Liver Failure)

This chapter describes the clinical symptoms and signs of AECHB and HBV ACLF, classification, grading of HBV ACLF and their features, diagnostic principles and standards in liver pathology, biochemistry, and virology of HBV ACLF.

Liver failure is defined as serious damage to the liver cause by a variety of etiologies, leading to liver function disorder or even decompensation, and clinical syndromes with coagulopathy, jaundice, hepatic encephalopathy, and ascites.

Severe hepatitis B can be indicated pathologically by apparent hepatocellular necrosis, including extensive multifocal, confluent, bridging, sub-massive or massive necrosis.

Laboratory tests during the course of severe exacerbation of chronic hepatitis B can reflect pathological changes and liver function in a timely manner, providing objective and informative reference data for evaluation of disease severity and treatment efficacy. Among the most important laboratory tests are those for prothrombin activity, international normalized ratio, and increases in total bilirubin concentration.

Severe hepatitis B is associated with interactions between the virus and host factors. Detection of HBV DNA, HBV genotype, quasispecies and HBV mutation can provide important theoretical bases for the prevention, control or mitigation of the progress of severe hepatitis B.

Noninvasive imaging modalities can be used to visualize the entire liver and parts of it. Measuring liver volume to evaluate liver size and liver reserve capacity is regarded as important in diagnosis, surgical approach and prognostic evaluation of patients with severe exacerbation of chronic hepatitis B and liver failure.

Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) is the first quantitative method developed to assess whether a patient with liver failure requires a liver transplant. The predictive value of the MELD model has been improved by the MELD-Na, iMELD, and MESO models. Several other valuable prognostic models have been developed. For example, for patients with HBV-ACLF, the established TPPM scoring system was found to be more predictive than MELD score.

Etiological investigation of fatal liver failure during the course of chronic hepatitis B in southeast China

BACKGROUND

The purpose of this study was to clarify the relationships between patients who had fatal liver failure during the course of chronic hepatitis B and those who were also superinfected with hepatitis A, C, D, or E virus, as well as their hepatitis B virus e system status, so that suitable measures could be adopted to decrease the mortality of patients with chronic hepatitis B.

METHODS

This study detected superinfections of hepatitis A, C, D, or E virus and the hepatitis B virus e system status in cases of fatal liver failure during the course of chronic hepatitis B by enzyme-lined immunosorbent assay.

RESULTS

The frequency of superinfections of hepatitis A, C, D, and E virus was 1.4% (4/282), 6.4% (18/282), 1.8% (5/282), and 28.4% (80/282), respectively, overall, 37.9% (107/282). Hepatitis E was prominent and steady in superinfection rates during the past 12 years. In 62.1% (175/282) of patients, the causes of fatal liver failure were not clear. The serological status frequency of HBeAg(+) and anti-HBe(-), HBeAg(-) and anti-HBe(-), and HBeAg(-) and anti-HBe(+) was 20.6% (22/107), 23.4% (25/107), and 56.1% (60/107), respectively, in the group with superinfections of hepatitis A, C, D, or E virus and 31.4% (55/175), 21.1% (37/175), and 47.4% (83/175), respectively, in the group in which causes were not clear. The serological status HBeAg(+) and anti-HBe(-) was more frequent in the group in which causes were not clear than in the group with superinfections of hepatitis A, C, D, or E virus (P < 0.05). Statistically, there were no differences (P > 0.05) between the serological status HBeAg(-), anti-HBe(-) and HBeAg(-), anti-HBe(+) between the two groups.

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that superinfection (107/282) is an important factor in fatal liver failure. The mortality of chronic hepatitis B can be decreased by strict food sanitation and the use of safe blood products. There were no significant relationships between hepatitis B e antigen seroconversion and fatal liver failure during the course of chronic hepatitis B.

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A