E. Nakashima et al., Serum hyaluronate level correlates to the degree of liver fibrosis in pediatric liver diseases, HEPATOL RES, 16(1), 1999, pp. 59-67
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.