Autoimmune HEPATITIS (AIH) is one of causes of CHRONIC liver diseases. It is an unresolving inflammation of liver tissue and characterized by elevated transaminases, hypergammaglobulinemia, and circulating autoantibodies. The disorder occurs mostly in females (F:M ratio is 3.6 to 1) and is a relatively uncommon disorder with point prevalence of 8-16.8 per 100 000 population in western countries. Hiostologic hallmarks are interface HEPATITIS (also called piecemeal necrosis), and portallymphoplasmacytic infiltration.Dignostic criteria are based on excluding other etiologies of CHRONIC liver disease,such as viral hepatic (A, B, C), metabolic disorders eg Wilson disese,drug induced HEPATITIS and alcoholic liver disease. Conventional autoantibodies are Antinuclear antibody (ANA), Smooth muscle antibody (SMA) and Anti liver kidney microsomal 1 (Anti LKM1).Some cases have combined clinical, laboratory or histologic features of Primary Biliary Cirrhosis (PBC) or Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC) with AIH and are known as overlap syndrome. Standard treatments of AIH as the most successful treated form of CHRONIC HEPATITIS are based on immunosuppression with corticosteroids alone or in combination with azathioprine.

Introduction: CHRONIC HEPATITIS B is a major medical problem, distributing all over the world. Affecting more than 400 million people. In highly prevalence places, childhood transmission is the most common form but in low prevalence areas, injection, drug use and familial transmission are the main routes of acquisation of infection. Hepatocellular carcinoma and cirrhosis are significant problems of CHRONIC HEPATITIS B. Exposure to HBV early in life may progress to hepatocellar carcinoma. The annual number of deaths from HBV infection and related diseases throughout the world is about 1.2 million. The goal of treatment of CHRONIC HEPATITIS B with Lamivudin or INF-Alpha is sustained suppression of virus replication and liver disease remission. INF, Alpha and Lamivudin have similiar efficacy. The adventage of Lamivudin is that it is less expensive and is well tolerated and adventages of INF. Alpha are the short duration of treatment and absence of resistance but it is expensive and has many side effects. The response rate of INF. Alpha is better than Lamivudin but it is associated with a large number of side effects, sometimes we have to stop or decrease the dose of INF. Viral genotypes and other factors such as pretreatment viral load, fatty liver and liver histiology may alter the response rate. The long-term use of Lamivudin may be with the emergence of YMDD mutations. Treatment of YMDD form of chromic HEPATITIS B, with combination of Lamivudin and Adefovir dipivoxil, may improve liver function; and YMDD mutations may be over come. The emergence of YMDD mutations reduces the benefit of Lamivudin but does not negate it.

Background: Advanced hepatic fibrosis and cirrhosis has generally been considered to be irreversible. The aim of this study was to determine whether cirrhosis is reversible.Methods: Seven patients with autoimmune HEPATITIS with histologic evidence of cirrhosis were enrolled. After treatment, they had follow-up liver biopsy while in clinical and biochemical remission. Biopsy specimens were randomly coded in unpaired manner according to patient and were read independently by two pathologists using the modified HEPATITIS activity index (with a maximum stage of 6).Results: Three patients still had extensive fibrosis in the second liver biopsy. But four patients had almost total regression of their liver fibrosis. In the latter patients, the mean alanine aminotransferase level decreased from 776.3 U/L to 23 U/L. The mean bilirubin level decreased from 5.85 mg/dL, to 0.98 mg/dL. Extensive fibrosis or cirrhosis were present in all patients at diagnosis but were not present on follow-up liver biopsy. The mean fibrosis score decreased from 5.88 to 0.5 (P=0.0002), and the mean grading score from 11.38 to 2.5 (P=0.0008.).Conclusion: Frank cirrhosis due to autoimmune HEPATITIS may be reversible in some patients who respond to treatment.

IntroductionHEPATITIS B virus (HBV) infection is a global health problem. Current estimates are that 2 billion people have been infected worldwide, of these, 360 million suffer from CHRONIC HBV infection resulting in over 520 000 deaths from acute HEPATITIS B and 470 000 from cirrhosis or liver cancer(1). The prevalence of HEPATITIS B carriers varies in different parts of the world, ranging from less than 1% to 15%. In the Middle East, the endemicity is intermittent, with a carrier rate of 2% to 7% (2). It is estimated that over 35% of Iranians have been exposed to the HBV and about 3% are CHRONIC carriers, ranging from 1.7% in Fars Province to over 5% in Sistan and Balouchestan(3).

Background: HEPATITIS G virus (HGV) is a hepatotrope virus with unknown importance. The genome of the virus has been detected in patients with acute or CHRONIC non-A-E HEPATITIS, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. The aim of this study was to determine the association between HEPATITIS G and unknown CHRONIC HEPATITIS.Methods: This case-control study was performed in Ebne-Sina military hospital in Hamadan, Iran. The cases were 35 military staff with unknown CHRONIC HEPATITIS. The control group consisted of 59 healthy subjects who had normal levels of serum alanine aminoteransferase (ALT). The data were analyzed by SPSS, version18, using Fisher’s exact test, the Student’s t-test, and multivariate logistic regression analysis.Results: Only one patient in the case group (2.9%) tested positive for HGV antibodies, and no one was infected in the control group. There was no association between HGV infection and unknown CHRONIC HEPATITIS in our study (P=0.37). A significant association was found between the male gender and unknown CHRONIC HEPATITIS (OR=14.9, P=0.01).Conclusion: No association between HGV infection and unknown CHRONIC HEPATITIS was found in our study, so it was not necessary to evaluate these patients for HGV infection.

Up to now, no complete study was carried out about the prevalence and location of periapical granuloma and radicular cysts from the point of view of clinical symptoms (e.g. pain and swelling fistula) in Iran. The data was collected from the files available in the Department of Pathology, faculty of Dentistry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences. With a consideration on different therapeutic methods, a proper method was selected. Radicular cyst occurred in 59.3 percent of 324 cases while 45.7 percent were granuloma. The most common incidence of these lesions was in the range of 24-25 years old. The most common location of lesions was the maxillary anterior. Sinus tracts occurred in 74 of all cases. 47.3 percent of these patients have been previously received root canal therapy. It is noticeable that 24 percent of all patients were treated endodontically before surgery. Higher incidence of granuloma occurred in small lesions while cysts were more common in large lesions. 232 of all cases showed one of the clinical symptoms, 16% pain, 35.8% swelling and 22.8% fistula. No symptoms were found in 92 cases.