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The aminopyrine breath test does not correlate with histologic disease severity in patients with cholestasis
Author(s) -
Baker Alfred L.,
Krager Patricia S.,
Kotake Alvin N.,
Schoeller Dale A.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
hepatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.488
H-Index - 361
eISSN - 1527-3350
pISSN - 0270-9139
DOI - 10.1002/hep.1840070309
Subject(s) - medicine , gastroenterology , breath test , cirrhosis , cholestasis , liver function tests , liver biopsy , cholestatic hepatitis , liver disease , primary biliary cirrhosis , biopsy , helicobacter pylori
To determine whether the aminopyrine breath test can be used to document the presence of cirrhosis in patients with cholestatic liver disease, 19 patients (13 primary biliary cirrhosis, 4 sclerosing cholangitis and 2 chronic extrahepatic bile duct obstruction) underwent clinical and biochemical evaluations, liver biopsies and an aminopyrine breath test. Results were compared with those in 10 patients with biopsy‐proven chronic active hepatitis with bridging and/or cirrhosis and in 22 healthy subjects. The aminopyrine breath test results in the 10 cholestatic patients with cirrhosis were not significantly different from the results in precirrhotic cholestatic patients (mean ± S.D., 11.2 ± 5.0 vs. 11.6 ± 2.8 %dose per 2 hr, p < 0.05) or healthy subjects (11.5 ± 2.9 %dose per 2 hr). In contrast, the results in the patients with chronic hepatitis were markedly depressed (3.2 ± 1.9 %dose per 2 hr, p < 0.05). The aminopyrine breath test results did not correlate with results of conventional liver function tests in the cholestatic patients. These results demonstrate that the aminopyrine breath test is not clinically useful in identifying the presence of cirrhosis in patients with cholestatic liver disease, and provide further evidence that decreased microsomal enzyme function is a late feature of cholestatic liver disease.