作者对急性病毒性肝炎患者设计了前瞻性对照试验,以确定肝活检中具有“桥状坏死”者是否可供有益的预后资料。同时,作者试图测定应用类固醇治疗重症肝炎患者(并非暴发性肝炎)是否可以影响后来发生的重要并发症,如脑病变,死于急性肝功能衰竭、慢性肝炎或非活动性坏死后肝硬化等。对患者进行生化和血液学试验,包括测试HBsAg,抗核、抗线粒体、抗平滑肌等抗 The authors designed a prospective, controlled trial of patients with acute viral hepatitis to determine if there is “bridge-like necrosis” in liver biopsies for beneficial prognostic data. At the same time, the authors attempted to determine whether steroid-treated patients with severe hepatitis (not fulminant hepatitis) could affect later major complications such as encephalopathy, death from acute liver failure, chronic hepatitis, or cirrhosis after non-active necrosis. Patients were biochemically and hematologically tested, including testing for HBsAg, anti-nuclear, anti-mitochondrial, and anti-smooth muscle antigens