The natural course of HCV infection and the need for treatment 丙型肝炎病毒感染的自然过程及治疗的必要性.pdf

medigraphic Artemisa en lÌnea 114 Annals of Hepatology 7(2) 2008: 114-119 Annals of Hepatology 2008; 7(2): April-June: 114-119 Concise Review Annals of The natural course of HCV infection and Hepatology the need for treatment 1 1 Savino Bruno; Corinna Facciotto Abstract Key words: Chronic hepatitis C, Natural history, Inter- feron treatment, cirrhosis. Nowadays, hepatitis C infection has been identified as the main cause of chronic liver disease, including cir- Magnitude of the problem rhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma in Western Coun- tries. However, despite its large diffusion (with more Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is the leading cause than 150 million of people infected world-wide), the of chronic liver disease including cirrhosis and hepato- lack of symptoms during the acute phase, together with cellular carcinoma (HCC), with an estimated 170 million the indolent course of the disease over time, hampers of people infected worldwide. It is also the most common the difficulties to assess the natural history of the dis- reason for