[For which liver diseases is immunosuppressive therapy indicated?]

Abstract

This paper reports on 464 cases of chronic hepatitis, of which 271 aggravated under the usual conservative treatment and thereafter were treated with an immunosuppressive agent. The results answer the question of "when an immunosuppressive therapy is justified". An improvement of liver diseases could be reached as follows: lupoid hepatitis 84%, chronic aggressive hepatitis with strong activity 78%, chronic aggressive hepatitis with low activity 53%, chronic persisting hepatitis 34%, mixed form of chronic aggressive hepatitis and primary biliary cirrhosis 34%, HBsAg-negative cirrhosis 57.9%, HBsAg-positive cirrhosis 60%, HBsAg-negative chronic aggressive hepatitis 66.7%, HbsAg-positive chronic aggressive hepatitis 76.2%.