| خلاصه مقاله | Background and aim: The majority of patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are
asymptomatic and are detected following incidental discovery of elevated ALT and AST. The gold
standard to diagnose NAFLD is liver biopsy, but it is important to find non-invasive methods
to diagnose patients. MRI imaging techniques today are strongly associated with histopathological
findings. In this study, we intend to evaluate the severity of changes in fatty liver and the degree of
inflammation of Liver and their relationship with ALT and AST changes in NAFLD elder patients.
Material & Methods: In this analytical and descriptive study, 120 patients over 60 years old (60 men,
60 women) with average age of 68.61 ± 13.06, were evaluated. Patients were examined by MRI with
in-phase (IP) and opposed-phase (OPP) sequences. Signal intensity, fatty liver index (FLI), and liver
inflammation were calculated and the relation of these factors with levels of ALT and AST
and AST/ALT ratio were assessed.
Result:The most common cause of admission of elder patients were abdominal pain (66.7%), icterus
(15%), high liver enzymes (13.3%), fever and general itching at the same person (1.7%). MRI findings
were anormal in 88 patients (73.3%). There were significant analytical positive relations of X1 (p=0.03,
r= 0.208) and X2 (p=0.02, r=0.212) with serum level of AST, and significant analytical negative
relationship of SDR1 levels with ALT (p=0.04, r=0.186).
Conclusion: According to the result of this study, there were no significant relationship of ALT with
MRI findings based on fatty liver index (FLI) and liver inflammation. Therefore, serum level of ALT
could not be a marker to diagnose or screening of NAFLD disease and it is not a good
evaluation replacement for MRI. |