Differential diagnosis, laboratory tests and histology in 245 patients with cholestasis

In the course of 4 years, among 11,738 admissions there were 245 (2.08%) patients with cholestasis (106 women and 139 men). Intrahepatic cholestasis (i.c.) was detected in 46.5%, and extrahepatic (e.c.) in 53.5%. The most frequent cause of i.c. were alcoholic and nonalcoholic chr. liver disease (fatty liver, chr. hepatitis, cirrhosis) (37% and 30%), acute viral hepatitis (15%) and toxic liver injury (14%) respectively. The causes of e.c. were: choledocholithiasis (44%), cancer of the pancreatic head (15%), cancer of gallbladder and extrahepatic ducts (12%) and cancer of liver (10%). The causes of c. were benigne, in 78.2%, while malignant neoplasms were present in 21.8%. Out of the multitude of laboratory tests two appeared particularly significant: glut, transpeptidase was pathologic in 81% of alcoholic liver disease, in 62% of the cases with obstructive jaundice and in 27.7% of malignant neoplasms. LX-lipoprotein examined in 52 patients was positive in 24% of i.c., and 60% of e.c. Proliferation of bile ducts was the most frequent finding in surgical liver biopsies in choledocholithiasis cases.