FOLLOW-UP STUDIES ON LIVER-DISEASE ASSOCIATED WITH HBSAG CARRIERS

Male subjects (8) who were initially studied in 1972 with liver biopsy because of HBsAg [hepatitis B surface antigen] carrier status were restudied 2 yr later with liver biopsy, clinical examination and standard liver function tests. Of the 8 subjects, 3 remained antigen positive and had continuing liver disease, this being either chronic active hepatitis or chronic persistent hepatitis. Two subjects became HBsAg negative and their liver biopsies returned to normal. One subject became HBsAg negative, but his biopsy disclosed chronic active hepatitis with cirrhosis in the presence of normal liver function tests. While persistence of the antigenemia is associated with persisting liver disease, the converse is not true in that the disappearance of the antigen does not necessarily imply an improvement in liver disease. Liver biopsy remains the only reliable means of assessing liver disease as biochemical tests of liver function and the clinical findings may be of little value.