Effects of Alcohol Consumption on Histological Changes in Chronic Hepatitis C: A Clinicopathological Study

Background:To assess the effects of alcohol on the histological changes in chronic hepatitis type C, we performed histopathological examination on liver biopsy specimens by using a semiquantitative method.Methods:Subjects were 91 patients with chronic hepatitis type C and 32 with alcoholic liver disease. The patients with chronic hepatitis type C were classified into three groups according to the total amount of alcohol intake: nondrinkers, moderate drinkers, and heavy drinkers. For each patient, we evaluated pathological changes of several items and awarded scores from 0 to 2 points, with severe to moderate scoring 2 points, mild 1, and negative 0; the total score was then compared between groups. The evaluated histological changes included virus‐related histological changes (VI, inflammatory cell infiltration; V2, lymphoid follicle formation; and V3, bile duct damage) and alcohol‐related changes (A1, perivenular fibrosis; A2, stellate/pericellular fibrosis; and A3, fatty change).Results:The total scores of the hepatitis C virus‐related histological changes were significantly lower in patients with alcoholic liver disease (ALD group) (p< 0.05). However, we found no significant difference between the different alcohol intake groups. The total score for alcohol‐related histological changes significantly increased in line with increases in total alcoholic intake regardless of the presence or absence of hepatitis type C virus infection (p< 0.05).Conclusions:The results suggest that both alcoholic‐related liver damage and virus‐related liver damage have specific features; in a addition, alcohol was found to have little effect on the histological liver damage observed in chronic hepatitis type C.