Pathological and clinical analysis of chronic asymptomatic HBV carriers

Objective To study the pathological features of liver and its relation with serum levels of HBV DNA, HbeAg, HbeAb in chronic asymptomatic HBV carriers (ASC) .Methods Pathological analysis of liver biopsies, serum HBV DNA and HBV-Marker levels were measured in 56 ASC.Results Different degrees of inflammation were seen in 71% (40/56) of the patients of which most of them were minor changes.Varying degrees fibrosis changes were seen in 28% (16/56) of which most were mild and minimal part of the cases were moderately severe;especially 3% (2 /56) of the patients were more than G3.There was no correlation between levels of HBV DNA, levels of liver inflammation and fibrosis.The levels of liver inflammation and fibrosis in HbeAg negative groups were higher than HbeAg positive group.Conclusion Severe fibrosis or early cirrhosis of the liver pathological change is observed in minor cases especially in HbeAg negative ASC.There is no correlation between levels of HBV DNA replication and levels of liver inflammation and fibrosis.Regular liver function tests and viral load only may not find out disease progression in these patients.Therefore, early liver biopsy could be used to determine the degrees of liver inflammation and fibrosis and guide the anti-viral treatment.