Serum Alanine Aminotransferase Levels In Hepatitis C Patients In Teaching Hospitals of Peshawar

Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT) is supposed to be the most important indicator of hepatitis. The present study was undertaken to find correlation between ALT and HCV, to establish an optimum level of serum ALT in HCV positive patients and to explore the possibility of using serum ALT activity as an important indicator for HCV screening. The study was conducted on 180 known hepatitis C positive patients and compared with the control group. The patients were taken from Khyber Teaching Hospital, Lady Reading Hospital, Post Graduate Medical Institute (PGMI) Hayatabad Medical Complex and matching controls from local community of Peshawar. The patients were divided into three main groups as symptomatic, asymptomatic and cirrhotic HCV patients. A strong correlation was found between elevated ALT and HCV infection. 78.66 % of symptomatic, 82.66 % of asymptomatic and 80 % of cirrhotic HCV patients were found to have elevated ALT values when compared with the control group. Mean ALT level in the three patient groups was 82.66 U/ l, indicating that a mild elevation in the ALT values may be considered as a signal for the presence of HCV antibodies.