[Alpha 1 antitrypsin in cryptogenetic cirrhosis (author's transl)].

Serum levels of alpha 1-antitrypsin were measured in 118 patients. Among these, 90 subjects presented with hepatic pathology of which 42 were of cryptogenetic origin. Not one of the subjects studied showed a decrease in alpha 1-antitrypsin nor did the results of liver biopsies prove positive for PAS cytoplasmic corpuscles. It is suggested that alpha 1-antitrypsin deficit does not play an important role in cryptogenetic cirrhosis.