What is Hepatitis?

Inflammation of the liver characterized

by the presence of inflammatory cells in the
tissue of the organ.

Two major form of hepatitis

Acute hepatitis : liver is inflammed quickly
Chronic hepatitis : liver is inflammed and
damaged slowly along period of time
 CAUSES SYMPTOMS
 Infection  Jaundice

 Injury  Nausea

 Exposure to drug or  Diarrhea

toxic compounds  Fatigue

 Autoimmune process  Flu-like
 Genetic defect
(hemochromatosis)
 Alanine transaminase (ALT):
an enzyme mainly found in the liver; the best test for
detecting hepatitis

Alkaline phosphatase (ALP):

 Enzyme related to bile duct;
 Often increase when they are blocked

Aspartate transaminase (AST):

 An enzyme found in liver and a few other places
particularly the heart and other muscles

Gamma-glutamyl Transferase (GGT)

 An enzyme found mainly in the liver
 Very sensitive to changes in liver function
 ALT is an enzyme produced in hepatocytes, the major cell
type in the liver.

 The level of ALT in the blood is increased in conditions in

which liver cells are damaged or die.

 As cells are damaged, ALT leaks out into the bloodstream

 All types of hepatitis (viral, alcoholic, drug-induced, etc.)

cause hepatocyte damage that can lead to elevations in
the serum ALT activity.
 The ALT level is also increased in cases of liver cell death
resulting from other causes, such as shock or drug toxicity.

 The level of ALT may correlate roughly with the degree of

cell death or inflammation, however, this is not always the
case.

 An accurate estimate of inflammatory activity or the

amount cell death can only be made by liver biopsy.

The normal range of values for ALT (SGPT) is from 7 to 56

units per liter of serum.