Fax +41 61 306 12 34 E-Mail karger@karger.ch www.karger.com Original Paper Med Princ Pract 2012;21:566–568 DOI: 10.1159/000339206 Lipid Serum Profile in Patients with Viral Liver Cirrhosis Cristin Constantin Vere Costin Teodor Streba Liliana Streba Ion Rogoveanu Departments of Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, Craiova, Romania ever, TG and VLDL cholesterol values of controls and cirrhosis groups were similar (p 1 0.05). We did not register any differ- ences between the two cirrhosis groups (p 1 0.05). Conclu- sion: Our data showed that both HCV and HBV cirrhosis se- verely impaired liver lipid metabolism. Late stages of the dis- ease resulted in a pseudonormalization of VLDL cholesterol and TG values. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel Introduction The liver plays a central role in lipid metabolism, as several pathways are, at least in part, dependent to this site [1]. Major metabolic processes take place at this level, involving the production, transportation and storage of apoproteins and lipoproteins, as well as catabolism of various lipids and excretion of cholesterol and phospho- lipids. An alteration in liver functions resulting from cel- lular injury leads to changes in the serum concentration of cholesterol and lipoproteins [2–5]. Infection with hepatitis C (HCV) or B (HBV) viruses leads to hepatic damage, which in turn relates to changes in alterations of the lipid metabolism [6–10]. Different mechanisms are involved, dependent on the stage of the liver disease and the metabolic state [11–13]. Low levels of plasma cholesterol and lipoproteins, as well as lower tri- glyceride (TG) values are usual in chronic liver diseases. However, the number of studies which included patients Key Words Serum lipids  Cirrhosis  Viral hepatitis Abstract Objective: Our main aim was to investigate the serum lipid levels in a series of patients with liver cirrhosis of viral origin. Subjects and Methods: The study comprised 90 patients, 60 with viral liver cirrhosis, equally divided between hepatitis virus C (HCV) and B (HBV) etiologies, and 30 control patients with no known liver pathology. Patients were investigated during a 5-year period in the 1st Medical Clinic of the Emer- gency County Hospital of Craiova, Romania. The following series of serum lipid parameters were recorded: lipemia, to- tal cholesterol and cholesteryl ester, high-density lipopro- tein (HDL) cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) choles- terol, very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) cholesterol and triglyceride (TG) values. Statistical analysis of these parame- ters was performed using the ANOVA test followed by Tukey multiple comparison tests to compare replicate means; p ! 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: We ob- served significantly lower values for serum lipids (543.5 and 549.37 mg/dl in the HBV and HCV cirrhosis subgroups, com- pared with 649.9 mg/dl in controls), total cholesterol (143.6 and 147.9 vs. 198.0 mg/dl, respectively), cholesteryl esters (83.6 and 80, compared to 147.9 mg/dl, respectively), LDL cholesterol (91.6 and 88.5 vs. 132.4 mg/dl) in both cirrhosis groups when compared with controls (p ! 0.001), as well as HDL cholesterol (32.1 and 36.9 vs. 47.3 mg/dl, p ! 0.05). How- Received: October 24, 2011 Accepted: May 1, 2012 Published online: June 19, 2012 Dr. Costin Teodor Streba St. Petru Rares No. 2 RO–200349 Craiova, Dolj (Romania) Tel. +40 72 2389 906 E-Mail costinstreba  @  gmail.com © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel 1011–7571/12/0216–0566$38.00/0 Accessible online at: www.karger.com/mpp