[Serum lipids in the diagnosis of severity of acute viral hepatitis A].

The purpose of the study was to estimate the possibilities of developing a method for diagnosing the severity of acute viral hepatitis A (AVHA), by analyzing the serum lipid spectrum and evaluating the biological membranes in patients with this condition. The level of total lipids and the lipid spectrum were studied in the sera of 100 patients with AVHA. The most significant differences were found in the ratio of cholesterol esters (CE), lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC), and lysophosphatidylethanolamine (LPE), in the coefficient of phosphatidylcholine (PC)(2)/sphingomyelin (SM) x LPC. Thus, lipid metabolism changes in AVHA, which suggests that the percentage of CE and LPC and the coefficient PC2/SM x LPC might be used as additional tests to evaluate the severity of the disease.