6533b836fe1ef96bd12a1c8a

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Differential diagnosis of human hepatitis

subject

description

There is a variety of differential diagnoses of acute and chronic human hepatitis regularly seen in clinical praxis. Risk factor assessment for specific entities provides important information and should guide individual diagnostic procedures. Liver screening tests often remain the first indicator for hepatic pathologies and should include quantification of liver enzymes, liver function parameters and cholestatic parameters. Nevertheless, virus serology should always be done during further laboratory evaluation. To estimate the parenchymal liver damage and to exclude biliary obstruction or hepatic lesions an abdominal ultrasound scan is essential. A liver biopsy may complete the diagnostic approach, if either the underlying hepatic pathology remains obscure or parenchymal liver damage needs to be defined.