ABSTRACT
Although glycyrrhizin (SNMC), and ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), alone or in combination have been administered in patients with active HCV-associated chronic hepatitis (HCV-CH) or liver cirrhosis (HCV-LC), there are many patients who do not respond well to these anti-inflammatory treatments. In this study, we examined retrospectively the possibility for juzentaihoto to alleviate inflammation in such patients. We calculated average ALT levels every 6 months for all 67 patients. If we assume an improvement in average serum ALT levels of more than 25% after juzentaihoto administration to be significantly effective, as compared with average ALT levels before juzentaihoto administration, 23 out of 40 patients (57.5%) showed significant improvement within one year. In the 32 patients with HCV-associated liver disease who were treated with combination SNMC and UDCA therapy, and whose average ALT levels did not decline to less than 80 IU/L, 18 (56.3%) showed significant improvement when juzentaihoto was added. Juzentaihoto was effective in 62.5% of patients with CH, and 54.2% of those with LC. Moreover, juzentaihoto was effective in 41.2% of male, and 69.6% of female patients. And in about 40% of patients, average ALT levels lowered increasingly over time, out to 2 years. Juzentaihoto may be an effective anti-inflammatory agent for intractable cases of active HCV-CH, or HCV-LC.