[Surgery in hepatitis].

Abstract

Viral hepatitis belongs to the most important infectious diseases worldwide. More than 300 million chronic HBsAg carriers and chronic HCV carriers exist, respectively. High endemic areas of viral hepatitis are Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Near, Middle and Far East. Viral hepatitis is also very important in health care workers. Today viral hepatitis can be differentiated from type A to type E (G) based on immunological and molecular assays. While enterally transmitted hepatitis type A and type E only induce acute and rare fulminant disease, hepatitis type B, C and D often induce chronic progressive disease including liver cirrhosis with typical complications due to the portal hypertension and with a high rate of association with the development of primary liver cancer (HCC). This review focusses on viral hepatitis-related surgical problems, including liver transplantation.