[The peculiarities of the clinical picture and the effectiveness of antiviral therapy of chronic hepatitis related to alcohol consumption plus hepatitis C virus effect].

The purpose of this study was to describe the features of chronic hepatitis when the damaging action of alcohol was combined with that of hepatitis C virus, and to investigate the effectiveness of combined antiviral therapy in this category of patients. The study showed that patients with chronic hepatitis of combined ethiology (alcohol plus HCV) had higher biochemical and histological activity of the disease, as well as certain histological features. The effectiveness of combined antiviral therapy was comparable in both alcohol consumers and non-consumers with hepatitis C, which makes it possible to consider the former category as candidates for antiviral treatment under the condition that they follow doctor's recommendations and abstain from alcohol consumption.