[Lipoprotein X in hepatobiliary diseases].

The diagnostic and prognostic reliability of lipoprotein-X (Lp-X) in demonstrating or ruling out cholestasis has been evaluated in a group of 80 patients with diseases of the liver and/or the biliary tracts, and in 103 subjects with various other diseases. The results of Lp-X detection were compared with the so-called "enzymes indicating cholestasis": alkaline phosphatase, leucine arylamidase, and gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase. Where possible a histologic specimen of the liver was obtained. The correlation between Lp-X and "enzymes indicating cholestasis" was satisfactory in more than 90% of cases. When compared with the histologic findings, Lp-X proved to be more reliable than the enzymes. Despite this fact, Lp-X did not show absolute specifity in the detection of cholestasis as there were several negative results in cases with histologically proven cholestasis. Furthermore, the differentiation of intra- and extrahepatic cholestasis was not possible on the basis of Lp-X. In the control group of 103 patients with other than hepatobiliary diseases, a positive Lp-X result was found in 3 cases. Further investigations in these three patients revealed that primarily unsuspected hepatobiliary disease could not be ruled out. In the follow-up of a hepatobiliary disease the transition of Lp-X to negative indicates a trend towards improvement of cholestasis 1-2 weeks earlier than the enzymes mentioned above.