21.   Fulminant hepatic failure is a syndrome characterised by short term development of signs of advanced liver failure leading to hepatic encephalopathy in the absence of previous liver disease.

22.   Portal hypertension usually complicates the evolution of chronic liver diseases.

23.   Patients were classified according to the severity of their liver disease.

24.   In patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection active viral replication is usually associated with continuing inflammatory activity and progression of liver disease.

25.   Primary sclerosing cholangitis is a chronic cholestatic liver disease that is characterised by inflammation and fibrosis of both intra- and extrahepatic bile ducts.

26.   In summary, we have demonstrated the diagnostic importance of an anti-neutrophil antibody in PSC compared with other chronic liver diseases.

27.   This may be of particular benefit in paediatric liver diseases where the diagnosis of PSC may be made without resorting to invasive techniques.

28.   As controls, cryptogenic cases of chronic liver disease -- that is without ANA-H or SMA-AA, were similarly studied.