[The prognostic value of the serial determination of galactose elimination capacity in chronic active hepatitis].

The prognostic value of different conventional liver tests was compared with that of the galactose elimination capacity (GEC) in 37 patients with chronic active hepatitis. During a mean observation period of 4.5 years, 12 patients died of the disease. None of the conventional liver tests (transaminases, prothrombin time, albumin, Child-Pugh classification) discriminated between survivors and nonsurvivors. In contrast, GEC discriminated between survivors and nonsurvivors (p less than 0.04). The best prognostic criterion was a decrease in GEC, since only patients with a decrease died of the disease. The positive and negative predictive values of this criterion were 100 and 60% respectively. This concept could prove useful for stratification purposes in therapeutic trials, as well as in assessment of novel forms of treatment of chronic active hepatitis.