In hepatic failure, it is well known that many metabolic abnormalities occur and the umbalance of three branched amino acids (BCAAs) and aromatic aminoacids (AAAs) causes a hepatic encephalopathy. Recently, it has been reported that these abnormalities happen in chronic liver disease and liver cirrhosis without hepatic encephalopathy. In this our study, we measured BTR (BCAAs/tyrosine), Fischer's ratio, several liver functional tests and
99mTc-GSA, a newly developed liver imaging ligand, and examined coefficient of these correlation in cirrhotic patients with and without hepatocellular carcinoma.
In the present study, there was good correlation between BTR and Fischer's ratio (r=0.910, p<0.001) in 108 hepatic disorder patients. In cirrhotic patients with and without hepatocellular carcinoma, BTR was well correlated with serum cholinesterase, prothrombin time, platelet counts and
99mTc-GSA. High coefficient of correlation to LHL 15 (receptor index) of
99mTc-GSA (r=0.631, p<0.001) was observed.
These results indicate that BTR has good coefficient of correlation to
99mTc-GSA and it is simple and good indicator of the severity of hepatic disorder.
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