Characteristic Laparoscopic Findings of Chronic Hepatitis C: A Comparison with Hepatitis B.

: We performed laparoscopy on 72 patients with chronic hepatitis C (CH-C) to elucidate its morphological features and characteristics relating to its progressive clinical course. We then compared these findings with those of 188 patients with chronic hepatitis B (CH-B). The frequency of reddish hepatic markings was almost the same in the patients with CH-B (21%) and the patients with CH-C (24%). In the patients with CH-B, reddish markings were present more frequently in the subjects with sublobular hepatic necrosis (34%) than in those without it (5%, p<0.01), but in CH-C the difference was not significant. Reddish markings were more even in the patients with CH-B with respect to form, size and distribution, whereas those in the patients with CH-C were more uneven. Prenodular patchy markings were present more frequently in the patients with CH-B (14%) than in the patients with CH-C (6%, p<0. 05). These findings suggested that the progression of hepatic necrosis was more variable in different parts of the liver, and that the regeneration of hepatocytes was less active in the patients with CH-C, compared with the patients with CH-B.