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KMID : 0387720090200030159
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Korean Journal of Blood Transfusion
2009 Volume.20 No. 3 p.159 ~ p.166
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The Usefulness of the Alanine Aminotransferase Test for Blood Donors
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Seo Dong-Hee
Whang Dong-Hee
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Abstract
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Background: The usefulness of the alanine aminotransferase (ALT) test has been questioned after the introduction of anti-Hepatitis C virus (HCV) screening and the HCV nucleic acid test (NAT). A major proportion of the blood discarded according to a positive screening test is composed of ALT-high blood. This study was performed to investigate the usefulness of the ALT test.
Methods: The number of donors with a high ALT level was analyzed using the 2007 database of 2,028,684 donors. The HBsAg and anti-HCV positive donors were grouped into the ALT＜65 group, the ALT=65∼89 group and the ALT≥90 IU/L group. Anti-HBc, anti-HBs and HBV DNA tests were performed for 402 high-ALT samples.
Results: A total of 30,077 (1.5%) donors had an ALT≥65 IU/L, and 18,594 (61.8%) of them had an ALT of 65∼89 IU/L. The mean ages of the groups with ALT＜65, 65∼89 and ≥90 IU/L were 24, 26 and 25 years, respectively and HBsAg was positive in 0.13, 0.36 and 0.88%, respectively, and anti-HCV was positive in 0.30, 0.39 and 0.52%, respectively. HBV DNA was not detected in the 402 samples with an ALT≥65 IU/L and a negative HBsAg test.
Conclusion: Based on an analysis of a donor databases, the HBV infection rates were higher in blood donors with high ALT. Although HBV DNA was not detected in the high-ALT samples with negative HBsAg, because of the high HBsAg positivity in the high-ALT samples, it would be desirable to retain the ALT screening test when considering the possibility of false negative reactions of the current hepatitis B screening test. (Korean J Blood Transfus 2009;20:159-166)
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KEYWORD
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Alanine aminotransferase, Blood donors, HBsAg, HBV DNA, Anti-HCV
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