Chronic hepatitis has been defined as inflammation
of the liver continuing without improvement for
at least 6 months.a In addition to the inflammatory
infiltration, there is a variable degree of liver cell
damage. Many examples of chronic hepatitis follow
acute hepatitis, but in others, no acute attack can be
identified clinically. The borderline between chronic
hepatitis and preceding acute hepatitis is often indistinct,
and in those forms of chronic hepatitis in which
cirrhosis develops, this transition is often also difficult
to define.