Treatment of active chronic hepatitis with cyclophosphamide.

Twenty patients with active chronic hepatitis, classified on the basis of the treatment into three groups, have been studied: (1) patients treated with cyclophosphamide (10 patients); (2) patients treated with cyclophosphamide after cycles of corticosteroid therapy (four patients); (3) patients treated with corticosteroid (six patients). In all patients we observed clinical, biochemical and immunological changes during and after treatment. Hepatic needle-biopsy was performed in all patients before treatment. The histological picture was rechecked after the first cycle of therapy in twelve patients. The results obtained in the three groups of patients have been statistically compared. Cyclophosphamide treatment produces an improvement of general conditions and a persistent normalization of several biochemical and immunological data, especially in those patients in which active chronic hepatitis was not in an advanced stage (type A aggressive form). The histological picture showed no changes after treatment.