RESUMO
Background: hepatitis C virus can cause both acute and chronic hepatitis. The acute process is self-limited, rarely causes hepatic failure and usually leads to chronic infection. Chronic HCV infection often follows a progressive course over many years and can ultimately result in cirrhosis, HCC and the need for liver transplantation. Objective: the aim of this study is to evaluate serum cholinesterase (CHE) level as a biomarker for detecting liver damage in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Patients and Methods: the current study was carried out on 50 subjects selected from the outpatient's clinic of Internal Medicine Department of Sayed Galal Hospital, Al-Azhar University and admitted to the internal department. The study was performed in the period between July-2014 to July -2019. Results: Sensitivity of cholinesterase is 100%, its specificity is 100% and its accuracy is 100%, in predicting liver injury in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Cholinesterase is positively correlated with Hb, platelets and albumin. Cholinesterase is negatively correlated with ALT, AST and ALP, total & direct bilirubin, PT, INR, urea, creatinine and AFP. There is significant increase of cholinesterase among compensated compared with decompensated cirrhotic patients. There is significant decrease of cholinesterase among compensated cirrhotic patients compared with controls. There is significant decrease of cholinesterase among decompensated cirrhotic patients compared with controls. Conclusion: cholinesterase is an excellent biomarker of cirrhosis with good sensitivity and specificity. Cholinesterase shows good correlation with albumin, PT, INR and Child-Puch score. Cholinesterase distinguishes decompensated cirrhosis from compensated cirrhosis well