ABSTRACT
Background: Perinatal asphyxia is an insult to the fetus or newborn due to lack of oxygen (hypoxia) and /or a lack of perfusion (ischemia) to various organs. The diagnosis of perinatal asphyxia is mostly established retrospectively. But it is difficult to diagnose perinatal asphyxia retrospectively in the absence of perinatal records. As because of hypoxaemia, different organ systems of the body are affected in perinatal asphyxia, this study was done to assess the hepatic function in the cases of perinatal asphyxia which could prove useful in diagnosing perinatal asphyxia. Methods: The study included 25 asphyxiated neonates as cases and 25 healthy neonates as control group. Venous blood was analyzed between 2nd and 5th day of life to estimate serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP), serum total bilirubin (STB), direct bilirubin (DSB) and prothrombin time (PT). Unpaired student’s ‘t’ test was used for data analysis and P value of <0.05 were considered significant. Results: Serum ALT and AST were found significantly higher in asphyxiated babies compared to reference groups (p<0.001). The mean ALT and AST of asphyxiated babies were 100.17±35.50 and 84.13±44.49 U/L, respectively and those of normal babies were 30.25±9.49 U/L and 41.97±11.49 U/L respectively. Conclusions: Estimation of liver enzymes can prove helpful in diagnosing perinatal asphyxia in absence of birth details especially in developing country like India.