Serum levels of fasting
glycocholic acid were measured in various noncirrhotic
liver diseases. Forty-five patients were evaluated, 15 with
chronic active hepatitis and 30 with mild
liver diseases including
chronic persistent hepatitis, steatosis, and minimal changes. There were increased levels of
glycocholic acid in 53.3% of
chronic active hepatitis cases and in 10% of mile
liver disease cases (P = 0.003), and the levels reached by patients with
chronic active hepatitis were higher than those in patients with mild
liver disease (P < 0.0001). The latter did not show significant differences in their serum levels or in the percentage of abnormal results with respect to control group. There were weak, although significant, correlations between
glycocholic acid and
transaminases,
alkaline phosphatase, gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase,
albumin, and gammaglobulin. In the present study, the specificity of
glycocholic acid was high in the detection of
chronic active hepatitis patients at different cut-off levels.
Glycocholic acid appeared to reflect histological severity in this group of noncirrhotic
liver diseases and might have practical applications in the management of these patients.