Chronic active hepatitis is a liver disease caused by infection, drugs, and metabolic or autoimmune disorders. Necrosis (death) of liver cells, inflammation and fibrosis may lead to liver failure. Death within 5 years of onset occurs in 40 to 50% of patients.
Review Date:
5/17/2012 Reviewed By: Harvey Simon, MD, Editor-in-Chief, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital. |