[A case of elevated transaminases caused by congestive heart failure simulating chronic hepatitis].

We report the case of a young man first seen by is in 1989 at the age of 20 years. The diagnoses of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, Wolf-parkinson-White syndrome, congestive heart failure and pulmonary hypertension were made. One month later the patient had jaundice and hepatomegaly and a diagnosis of acute viral hepatitis A was established by laboratory findings. The ALT and AST levels were persistently elevated, seven times the normal mean, during six years. Two liver biopsies in 1991 and 1993 showed liver injury secondary to congestive heart failure (CHF) as the only abnormality. This case illustrates the importance of liver injury secondary to CHF as a cause of a marked and persistent increase of ALT and AST that resembles that of other liver diseases.