Clinical value of serum total bile acid and fecal pH in patients with hepatic cirrhosis

[Objective]To investigate the clinical value of serum total bile acid(TBA)and fecal pH in Child-pugh classification in patients with hepatic cirrhosis.[Methods]Seventy patients with hepatic cirrhosis were enrolled and divided into three groups according to Child-pugh classification:A group(A grade,13cases),B group(B grade,34cases),C group(C grade,23cases),respectively.And 40patients with chronic gastritis were enrolled as control.Automatic biochemistry analysator was used to measure serum TBA.Fecal pH value was detected by short range pH paper.[Results]The levels of fecal pH and serum TBA were signifycantly higher in patients with hepatic cirrhosis than those in control group(P0.01),which elevated gradually changes with the increase in Child-pugh classification.There were also a significant difference of serum TBA among three groups(P0.01),but fecal pH was not significantly different among three groups(P0.05).No significant correlation was found between serum TBA,fecal pH and different causes of hepatic cirrhosis(P0.05).[Conclusion]Serum TBA,fecal pH is one of the sensitive indexes refectiong cell damage of hepatic cirrhosis.Fecal pH is affected by many factors,which has less value than serum TBA on predicting the prognosis and degree of liver function in patients with hepatic cirrhosis.