Background: In patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection, precise definition of the hepatic fibrosis stage is the most important parameter to assess the risk of disease progression. Correlation between the prognosis of the CHB and the level of hepatitis-B virus DNA (HBV-DNA) is well considered in recent years.
Aims: The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between serum HBV-DNA level and histology of the liver. We also wanted to determine a threshold level of HBV-DNA for differentiation of low and high risk patients for progression.
Methods: Two-hundred-fifty-nine patients with serum HBV-DNA level > 2000 copies/mL, determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and biopsy proven naïve CHB infection were evaluated. Liver biopsies were evaluated histopathologically according to the Ishak scoring system. Laboratory values such as aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase ratio (ALT) were tested every 3 months and the highest value of each patient was evaluated.
Results: Mean age was 40 +/- 11 and 60% (155/259) of the patients were male. Mean laboratory values were as follows: AST: 52 +/- 46 U/L, ALT: 93 +/- 133 U/L, PLT: 224 +/- 60 1093)/l HBV DNA: 5.9 +/- 1.5 log copies/mL. In histological evaluation, mean inflammatory score was 4.34 +/- 2.72 and fibrosis score was 1.38 +/- 1.46. The fibrosis score was 0 or 1 in 63.3% (164/259) of the patients. The relationship between HBV-DNA level and histologic grade/stage was investigated and 15.000 copies/mL HBV DNA level was found as the threshold level to describe the activity of the disease. Fibrosis score was < 2 and/or grade < or = 5 in the patients who have HBV-DNA value below that level.
Conclusion: In patients who have serum HBV-DNA level < or = 15000/copies/mL, histological activity was almost always low, and it seems that these patients do not need a liver biopsy regardless of hepatitis-B-e antigen (HBeAg) status.