[Evaluation of liver function in chronic liver diseases using the bile acid spectrum]

In 24 persons with healthy liver and 44 patients with without exception morphologically ascertained chronic hepatopathies of different degree of severity the diagnostic valency of the bile acids was tested. In these cases the bile acids estimated in the C-bile proved as sensitive indicators of a chronic lesion of the liver parenchyma. Quantitative deviations of the bile acids, the relation from tri- to dihydroxycholan acids, qualitative alterations in the spectre of the free bile acids as well as changes of the form of conjugation were of importance concerning the functional diagnosis. The concentration of bile acids decreased the more expressed was the chronic lesion of the liver parenchyma. Trihydroxycholan acids and dihydroxycholan acids variably participated in the reduction of the bile acids in different forms of chronic hepatopathies. From the change of the quotient tri- to dihydroxycholan acids causal connections between the degree of severity of the chronic hepatopathy and the dominance of the chenodesoxycholic acid could be derived. Moreover, the conjugation of the bile acids with glycine prevailing in chronic hepatopathies underwent a degradated change. From the examinations results that quantitative and qualitative deviations of the bile acid spectre under defined morphological prerequisites render possible a differentiated judgment of the liver function in chronic hepatopathies.