Scoring of chronic hepatitis

The subject of this chapter is the pathological consequences of infection with hepatotropic viruses. These viruses form a group of diverse agents that utilize liver tissue as a site of replication and major pathological injury. Hepatotropic viruses include five biologically unrelated viruses A, B, C, D and E. All are responsible for hepatitis, which is generally classified by viral type. Viral hepatitis can also be identified by the duration of infection and the clinicopathological syndrome that develops. Hepatitis B, C, D and E can become chronic. Although some pathological features are unique to the type of virus responsible for infection, many aspects of the pathological injury and clinical progression are common to multiple types of hepatotropic viral infection.