Clinical Significance of Determing Serum PCI and PCIII in the Diagnosis of Hepatic Cirrhosis

To observe the clinical significance of determing serum procollagen type Ⅰ(PCⅠ) and procollagen type Ⅲ(PCⅢ) levels in the diagnosis of hepatic cirrhosis, the PCⅠ and PCⅢ RIA kit established by ourselevs were used to determine PCⅠ and PCⅢ in 100 normal controls and 162 patients with various liver diseases. The results showed that the levels of serum PCⅠ in two hepatic cirrhotic goups were significantly higher than those in the other goups( P 0.001). The serum PCⅢ levels were: highest in patients with hepatic cirrhosis and chronic active hepatitis; high in patients with acute hepatitis and primary hepatic carcinoma without cirrhosis and no significantly high in patients with chronic persistent hepatitis, cholelithiasis and other liver diseases. There was no correlation between serum PCⅠ and PCⅢ ( r =0.145, P 0.05).Conclusion: The results suggest that the determination of serum PCⅠ and PCⅢ levels has significant value in the diagnosis of hepatic fibrosis advanced towards cirrhosis.