ABSTRACT
Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis [NASH] is a form of liver disease resembling alcoholic liver disease in a patient who did not consume significant amount of alcohol. Our study is concerned with the relation between NASH and iron level in Serum and liver tissue. Thirty four patients with NASH proved by liver biopsy were the subjects of our study. They were 12 males [35.3%] and 22 females [64.7%] with mean age of 11.6 +/- 6.4 years [range from 8 to 18 years]. The investigations done to all of them included: Fasting and post prandial blood glucose, hepatitis markers, lipid profile, liver function tests, serum iron, total iron binding capacity [TIBC], serum ferritin, prothrombin time and concentration, abdominal ultrasonography, ultrasonography guided liver biopsy and histopathological examination of the specimen. Our results showed elevation of the serum levels of iron total iron binding capacity, serum ferritin and total iron score in 82.4% of our NASH patients. There was no significant difference in the studied iron parameters in different grades of steatosis and in different grades of activity while there was signiticant difference in different stages of fibrosis
Conclusion: In addition to diabetes mellitus lipid abnormalities and obesity, increased iron stores may play an important role in the deveIOpment of NASH and this may be through increased oxidative stress that ultimately leads to fibrosis and iron reduction might be of benefit in the treatment of this disease