Serum Transaminases and Platelet Count as

Key words: Hepatitis C virus, platelet count, serum transaminases and cirrhosisAbstract: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major cause of chronic liver disease worldwide. Liver biopsy has the advantage of allowing obtaining information not only on fibrosis, but also on many useful parameters. However, liver biopsy has also a number of limitations that have to be taken into account. Thus, there is a need for simple, inexpensive, and reliable noninvasive means to assess disease severity in patients with chronic hepatitis C. This has led us to investigate the non-invasive methods of detecting severe fibrosis/cirrhosis, including only biochemical ALT and AST in combination with platelet count. Thirty eight patients with clinical picture suggestive of chronic liver disease were studied. All patients were subjected to full history taking, clinical examination, liver functions, complete blood cell count, coagulations profile, Hepatitis C antibodies, PCR for HCV, Liver biopsy and abdominal ultrasound.The present study showed that platelet count was significant in detection of the grade of liver fibrosis with predictive value over 90 %.Patients with elevated liver transaminases showed advanced fibrotic stages than others with normal enzymes. PCR, in this study showed that HCV-RNA level has no predictive value in detection of fibrosis and cirrhosis in HCV.