Study of some liver function tests in children suffering from tuberculosis

ABSTRACT

The present work was designed to study some liver function tests in tuberculous children before and six months after treatment. The material included fifty tuberculous cases attending the outpatient chest clinic and various wards at Cairo University's New Children Hospital. They were further subdivided into two groups 26 pulmonary T.B. and 24 extrapulmonary T.B. cases. Thirty normal children were studied as controls. Seven liver function tests were performed. These included serum bilirubin, total serum proteins, serum albumin, serum alaline phosphatase, SGOT, SGPT and serum lactic dehydrogenase. We found that, in untreated tuberculous children, serum albumin was significantly lower, whereas serum alkaline phosphatase SGOT and serum LDH were significantly higher than the normal values, all of which had a tendency to return to normal six months after successful treatment. However, serum alkaline phosphatase was significantly higher in extrapulmonary than pulmonary T.B. children six months after treatment. Serum bilirubin, total serum proteins and SGPT remained undisturbed by the disease. On the contrary, the liver function tests were not significantly altered as a result of treatment with rifampicin and isoniazid. Clinically evident hepatitis due to hepatotoxicity by these drugs was seen in one case only