RESUMEN
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the change of serum gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) and its diagnosis value in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with different degrees of liver damage.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Alanine-aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate-aminotransferase (AST) and GGT were measured in 221 CHB patients. Liver biopsy was conducted simultaneously to determine the inflammation grade and fibrosis stage of the liver tissues.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The rate of normal GGT in pathologically diagnosed mild and severe CHB patients was 90.4% and 12.3%, respectively (P<0.01). Increased level of GGT was parallel to the degree of liver pathological change (P<0.01). In active CHB patients, GGT rose with the ALT increase with a positive linear correlation between them (r=0.464, P<0.001). In pathologically diagnosed mild CHB patients, GGT had a tendency of rapidly declining to normal levels with ALT. In moderate CHB patients, GGT fluctuated at a relatively high level, and in severe CHB patients GGT exhibited a deviation from GGT.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>GGT is conducive to improve the coincident rate between the clinical and pathological diagnosis of CHB.</p>