Success in treating mild chronic hepatitis C: different outcomes - new guidelines?

Limited knowledge of the natural history of chronic hepatitis C suggests that patients with mild histological changes on liver biopsy are at low risk of developing liver related morbidity or mortality, Patients with mild disease have been excluded from the large trials of treatment for hepatitis C and consequently guidelines recommend that they are excluded from treatment. However, as the probability of a beneficial response to treatment increases with improvements in antiviral therapy so the threshold for treatment falls. Trials reporting good responses to treatment in patients with mild disease support the case for widening access to treatment. Increasing recognition that chronic hepatitis C infection can lead to impairment of quality of life that is independent of liver histology is likely to result in more patients with mild hepatitis seeking treatment, more clinical trials that include patients with milder stages of liver disease, and greater enthusiasm for their inclusion in treatment guidelines. Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol 14:595-597 (C) 2002 Lippincott Williams Wilkins.