Determination of Alanine Aminotransferase in Blood Donor Screening - Evidence of its Usefulness in the Prevention of Post-Transfusion Hepatitis
Khouri, S.T.; Edmundo Lopes, P.A.; Perez, R.M.; Figueiredo, V.M.; Lanzoni, V.P.; Silva, A., E.B.; Lucia, M. G. Ferraz
Clinical Laboratory 50(5-6): 291-294
2004
ISSN/ISBN: 1433-6510 PMID: 15209437 Document Number: 8682
A total of 408 HBsAg and anti-HCV-negative patients with elevated ALT levels referred from blood banks were studied. Of these, 359 were followed up. HBsAg and anti-HCV were repeated in the first visit and ALT was checked at a 3 months interval. A liver biopsy was indicated when ALT levels remained abnormal for more than 6 months. Of the patients included, 316/359 (88%) were men, with a mean age of 34 years. In the first visit, 3 (0.8%) patients were anti-HCV positive upon serological reevaluation, with persistence of elevated ALT in all of them. A biopsy revealed chronic hepatitis in all three cases. Twenty-two patients were positive for anti-HBc, 20 of them were immune (anti-HBs positive), one developed anti-HBs after a vaccine dose, and one was HBsAg positive. The present study suggests that ALT can be a useful marker for the detection of hepatitis C virus infected donors in whom technical problems might have occurred in serological screening.
Document emailed within 1 workday
