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Liver enzyme elevation generally benign in children
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - It appears that isolated elevation of liver enzymes is generally benign and need not be a cause for immediate action or concern in most young children, according to Israeli researchers.
"Findings of prolonged abnormal liver enzymes are not rare in infants and young children," senior investigator Dr. Ron Shaoul told Reuters Health.
As long as these abnormal enzymes are isolated and do not involve jaundice, for example, these infants and children can be followed conservatively and there is no need for liver biopsy in most cases, Shaoul said.
In a report in Archives of Disease in Childhood, Shaoul, of Bnai Zion Medical Center, Haifa and colleagues describe 72 apparently healthy babies and young children who had abnormally high levels of liver enzymes known as aminotransferases in their blood for a minimum of 3 months.
In Shaoul's experience, "the abnormality resolves within a year" in most cases, the researcher said. However, he concluded, "the exact etiology for this prolonged abnormality is still unclear."
SOURCE: Archives of Disease in Childhood, December 2007.
Reuters Health