Objective<\/strong>: In this study, our objective is to evaluate histological changes in livers of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected patients with normal alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels.<\/p>\n Methods<\/strong>: 72 patients over 16 years old, with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) and normal ALT levels were evaluated in this multicenter retrospective study. Persistently normal ALT level was defined as 2 or 3 normal ALT levels at intervals of at least 1 month during 6 months. Demographic data, year of diagnosis, at least 2 ALT values within 6 months, hepatitis markers, results of HCV RNA and the liver biopsy were all evaluated. Serological markers have been tested with different kits. HCV RNA has been studied by RT-PCR with dynamic range and sensitivity of different kits. All biopsies were evaluated again by the same pathologist.\u00a0<\/p>\n Results<\/strong>: The mean age was 44\u00b113 years and 61.1% were female. HCV RNA levels were between 1.53×102-1.13×108 IU\/ml. The mean ALT levels were 30.3\u00b19.6 IU\/lt. The mean grade of necroinflammation was 4.67\u00b11.96 and mean staging of fibrosis was 1.03\u00b11.13. The ratios of minimal, mild and moderate activity in the liver biopsies were 48.6%, 45.3% and, 2.8%, respectively. Rate of portal-periportal fibrosis, bridging fibrosis and incomplete cirrhosis were 51.4%, 6.9%, and 1.4%, respectively.<\/p>\n Conclusions<\/strong>: ALT level is a poor indicator of liver disease activity in patients with CHC. Patients with indication for treatment should be evaluated for liver biopsy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Abstract Objective: In this study, our objective is to evaluate histological changes in livers of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected patients with normal alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels. Methods: 72 patients over 16 years old, with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) and normal ALT levels were evaluated in this multicenter retrospective study. Persistently normal ALT level was defined […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[4170,4174,2789,4172],"class_list":["post-16176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-original-article","tag-alanine-transaminase","tag-chronic-liver-disease","tag-hepatitis-c-virus","tag-histology"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.klimikdergisi.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.klimikdergisi.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.klimikdergisi.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.klimikdergisi.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.klimikdergisi.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16176\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.klimikdergisi.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.klimikdergisi.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.klimikdergisi.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}