Dw. Reedy et al., AST ALT RATIO GREATER-THAN-OR-EQUAL-TO-1 IS NOT DIAGNOSTIC OF CIRRHOSIS IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC HEPATITIS-C/, Digestive diseases and sciences, 43(9), 1998, pp. 2156-2159
Medical guidelines for interferon-alpha(2a) or -alpha(2b) (IFN-alpha)
treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection depend upon bas
eline liver histology. A better long-term response to IFN-alpha therap
y correlates with less inflammation and absence of cirrhosis. It has b
een suggested that the presence of cirrhosis in patients with chronic
hepatitis C virus infection may be predicted based on an AST/ALT ratio
greater than or equal to 1. This study was designed to determine if t
he presence of cirrhosis can be predicted in patients with chronic HCV
infection by such a ratio. Seventy-seven patients, including 23 cirrh
otics, with chronic HCV infection were studied. Serum ALT, AST, and HC
V-RNA levels and hepatic activity index (HAI), reflecting histologic i
nflammation in all liver biopsies, were assessed. AST/ALT ratios and m
ean ALT, AST, and HCV-RNA were determined for both cirrhotic and nonci
rrhotic patients. HAI was correlated with ALT, AST, and HCV-RNA levels
, the latter determined by quantitative RT-PCR. The likelihood ratio (
LR) and positive predictive value of an AST/ALT ratio greater than or
equal to 1 for cirrhosis was 7.3 and only 77%, respectively. In cirrho
tics vs noncirrhotics, there were no significant differences between m
ean serum ALT (149 +/- 28 vs 176 +/- 17 units/liter), AST (139 +/- 28
vs 102 +/- 8 units/liter), or HCV-RNA levels (589,160 +/- 147,053 vs 5
43,915 +/- 75,497 copies/ml), respectively. There was a significant, b
ut clinically weak, correlation between serum ALT and HAI (r = 0.234),
and none between HAI and either serum AST or HCV-RNA levels. Our resu
lts support the need for a liver biopsy prior to treatment of chronic
HCV infection, since the AST/ALT ratio fails to predict accurately the
presence of cirrhosis.