Quantification of the chronic portal infiltrate in chronic hepatitis.

We investigated 50 patients admitted with chronic hepatitis in whom we performed core liver biopsy. The fragment were prepared with the usual histological technique, and the sections were stained with hematoxilin-eosin, in order to prove the pathological and immunohistochemical diagnosis. In order to point out the cell population of the inflammatory infiltrate we used the immunohistochemical method with DAKO monoclonal antibodies (anti-LCA and CD3), Gömöri's trichrome stain and with Alcian Blue and safranin method. In the chronic persistent hepatitis (CPH) B lymphocytes are predominant, while in the chronic aggressive hepatitis (CAH), the predominant cells are of T type (lymphocyte inversion). But there are also cases of persistent chronic hepatitis, in whom the inflammatory infiltrate is represented especially by T lymphocytes, these have a great potential of evolution in CAH. The quantification of the elements of the chronic portal inflammatory infiltrate is a importance factor of prognosis in chronic hepatitis.