Condition of hepatobiliary zone in patients with hemorrhagic vasculitis

Systemic vasculitides are often accompanied by the liver affection, but the data on hemorrhagic vasculitis is limited. The aim of this paper was to determine the structural and functional condition of liver and gallbladder (GB) in patients with hemorrhagic vasculitis. Materials and methods. We retrospectively analyzed data of 75 patients (57% females and 43% males, mean age 47.7±4.3 years) and estimated the structural and functional condition of their liver and GB (total bilirubin, transaminases, gamma-glutamyltranspeptydase (GGTP), alkaline phosphatase). The digital data was statistically processed and represented as M±m. Correlations were estimated according to Pearson (r). Data was considered significant if р<0.05. Results. It was revealed that sonographic signs of liver affection were present in 73.9% of patients with hemorrhagic vasculitis; sonographic signs of GB affection – in 61.3%. It is worth saying that these changes were mentioned in the diagnosis of 3.9% of patients only, which is a sign of insufficient attention of doctors to these changes. The mean values of routine laboratory markers of liver affection were in the normal range. We revealed hypobilirubinemia in 46.5% of patients, which can testify the frequent presence of oxidative stress. In our patients we also noticed hyperbilirubinemia (4.2%) and the increase of aspartate aminotransferase (2.7%), alanine aminotransferase (4.0%), de Ritis index (42.7%), GGTP (36.4%) and alkaline phosphatase (53.3%). Conclusions. Bilirubin level directly correlated with hemoglobin; aspartate and alanine aminotransferases - inversely with total cholesterol; de Ritis index – with alpha-globulines, cholestasis markers, peripheral blood erythrocytes and monocytes; GGTP – with erythrocytes and erythrocyte sedimentation rate.