Serum Aminotransferase Levels as a Marker of Liver Cirrhosis in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C Infection

The clinical usefulness of the ratio of serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) to alanine aminotransferase (ALT) has been explored in several liver disorders. It has been suggested that in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection with an AST: ALT or = 1 has 100 % specificity and positive predictive value in distinguishing cirrhotic from non-cirrhotic patients. Such statistical certainly attachment to a simple biochemical test merits further evaluation. The present study, therefore, assessed the AST: ALT in diagnosed cirrhotic HCV patients to determine the validity of the ratio in predicting cirrhosis of liver. In this retrospective study 60 hospital admitted cirrhotic HCV patients were investigated for liver profile, AST/ ALT ratio and compared to a group of control volunteers. A highly significant alteration was observed in all the hepatic parameters of cirrhotic patients with a highest increase noted in the values of AST. A highly significant difference (P 0.001) was observed in the AST/ ALT ratio (1.45 vs. 0.79) of cirrhotic patients when compared with the control group.This study, therefore, confirms that the low cost, non invasive parameter that is AST/ ALT ratio is highly specific for checking the presence of cirrhosis in hepatitis patients and can be considered as a dependable marker