Conclusions, take home points, and what to tell my patient...
About 8 out of 10 pts with HCV infection will develop chronic hepatitis as defined by elevated LFTs and/or histologic changes.
Chronic HCV usually has a prolonged course.
About 20% with chronic HCV will progress to cirrhosis over a period of time probably not less than two decades.
It is not clear that overall mortality is increased.
Interferon has been studied extensively as a treatment for chronic HCV.