The specific marker for alcoholic hepatitis?
Ans. (a) GGTSerum levels of GGT differ from those of ALP during pregnancy, in which GGT remains normal even during cholestasis in pregnancy. GGT is often increased in alcoholics even without liver disease; in some obese people; and in the presence of high concentrations of therapeutic drugs, such as acetaminophen and phenytoin and carbamazepine (increased up to five times the reference limits), even in the absence of any apparent liver injury. Studies suggest that alcohol induces mitochondrial damage, resulting in the release of mitochondrial AST, which, besides being the predominant form of AST in hepatocytes, has a significantly longer half-life than do extramitochondrial AST and ALT. This frequently results in the disproportionate elevation of AST over ALT, yielding an AST/ALT quotient, also called the DeRitis ratio, of 3-4:1 in alcohol-induced liver disease
GGT
Alanine transaminase
Alkaline phosphatase
LDH
Liver & Biliary Tract