Serum iron, hepatic iron deposition, and inflammatory

We studied the effects of serum iron level, hepatic iron deposition and other metabolic disorders i.e., insulin resistance in hepatic fibrosis development.

Among 60 patients with chronic hepatitis C, we measured serum iron, ferritin and transferrin level. Meanwhile, hepatic biopsies were obtained from 43 patients for whom iron deposition, inflammatory necrosis/fibrosis score and steatosis were determined.

Hepatic iron deposition was significantly associated with waist circumference, ferritin level >200ng/ml, fasting C-peptide >1.9ng/ml, AST/ALT ratio >1, and fasting triglyceride >200mg/dl. On the other hand, it was not correlated with the following: grading, preportal-precital hepatitis (A), necrosis (b), focal lytic necrosis (C), focal apoptosis (C), and portal inflammation (D).

Our findings suggested an interaction between hepatic iron deposition and waist circumference, ferritin, fasting C-peptide, AST/ALT, and fasting triglyceride.