[The diagnosis of cholestasis: lipoprotein X (LP-X) (author's transl)]

The diagnostic specificity of a new method to detect obstructive jaundice by determination of lipoprotein X (LP-X) was tested in 144 patients with different kinds of hepatic diseases and compared with the usual chemical "obstructive jaundice specific" tests, such as bilirubin, SGOT, SGPT, alkaline phosphatase, LAP and gamma-GT. The LP-X test was performed by using all-in test kit LP-X Rapidophor" low-voltage electrophoresis of Immuno AG/Wien. The results were correlated with the histological classification of the liver biopsy specimen. In 82% of the histologically verified cases of obstructive jaundice the result of the LP-X test was positive, whilst in 98.5% of the histologically negative cases the result of the LP-X test was negative. Hence, this LP-X method proved superior to chemical methods in providing a clear-cut positive or negative answer to the presence of cholestasis. Furthermore, the LP-X test was suitable for long-term follow-up investigation of patients with obstructive jaundice.