[Prevalence of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) among biopsied cases of a urban hospital in Japan: significance of measurement of serum ferritin in the detection of NASH].
From April 1989 to December 2004, we performed liver biopsy on 475 patients and obtained biopsy proven 35 cases of non-alcoholic fatty liver. Among them, 18 cases were diagnosed as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). During the last three years, we have tried to detect NASH using ultrasonography and elevated value of serum ferritin (> 300 ng/ml). All of the eligible 7 cases biopsied during the course were diagnosed as NASH. In these 7 cases, ALT levels improved after the body weight loss accompanied by the parallel decrease of serum ferritin levels. Measurement of serum ferritin is useful in the detection of NASH but the normal value of ferritin cannot rule out the possibility of NASH.
Yajima
Yosiaki
Y
Department of Gastroenterology, Sendai City Hospital.
Takahashi
Nobutaka
N
Miyazaki
Atsusi
A
Kikuchi
Ryosuke
R
Kakisaka
Keisuke
K
Oikawa
Keisuke
K
Sugawara
Kazuhiko
K
Eda
Yoshiki
Y
Naganuma
Hiroshi
H
Unagami
Masamitsu
M
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001706:Biopsy; D005234:Fatty Liver / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D005293:Ferritins / Q000097:blood*; D006505:Hepatitis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D006786:Hospitals, Urban / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies
D005293:Ferritins