Serum hyaluronate level correlates to the degree of liver fibrosis in pediatric liver diseases

Usefulness of monitoring a serum marker for liver fibrosis, hyaluronate, fo r various pediatric liver diseases was examined. Subjects were 73 children who had been followed in the Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Kur ume University School of Medicine for liver function disorders, and who rec eived liver biopsy and serum sampling. Serum hyaluronate levels were measur ed by using the sandwich binding protein assay system. Collagen fibers in e ach biopsy specimen were stained with Sirius red, and the amount of the sta ined fibers were measured by a computer image analysis system in order to o btain the degree of fibrosis, i.e. ratio of the area of collagen fibers to the entire liver specimen. Pearson's correlation coefficient and regression analysis revealed a significant correlation between the serum hyaluronate level and degree of fibrosis (r = 0.687, P < 0.001). This result shows the measurement of the serum hyaluronate is useful as a noninvasive method of a ssessing liver fibrosis in pediatric liver diseases, and it would be able t o reduce the frequency of liver biopsy in children. (C) 1999 Elsevier Scien ce Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.