Chronic viral hepatitis: Its characteristics and management

Although most patients with liver disease remain asymptomatic throughout their life, chronic viral hepatitis is a major health problem because of the signifi cant mortality rates of its complications-cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Recent knowledge in the understanding of viral pathogenesis and the introduction of new, directly acting antivirals and new diagnostics aimed to assess both viral and host genetic heterogeneity will bring significant improvement in clinical practice. The faculty of experts of "Women in Hepatology" provided the state-of-the-art review of the impact of some new approaches to clinical decision-making. One key issue from these presentations concerned the management of patients with chronic hepatitis B and C who undergo antiviral therapy and liver transplantation. Also included in this chapter are the differences and relation between hepatitis C virus infection and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. © FBCommunication - Modena (Italy).