Hepatic intracellular sodium in schistosomal hepatic fibrosis.

This study was performed on 15 male non-ascitic schistosomal cases to estimate hepatic intracellular electrolytes content. Another 10 non-schistosomal non-cirrhotic cases were taken as control. It has been found that, serum sodium and potassium concentration and hepatic intracellular potassium content were within normal range with no statistical difference in the values obtained in both schistosomal and control group. The hepatic intracellular sodium content was higher than normal in all our cases, with a significant statistical difference between the schistosomal and the control group. It has been concluded that, in schistosomal patients increase in the intracellular sodium content is an early finding before the development of ascites.