Abstract: Objective To study the level of serum adenosine deaminase in patients viral hepatitis. Methods The adenosine deaminase and liver function indexes of the patients were determined by OLYMPUS AU400. Results The rates of increasing serum adenosine deaminase in acute hepatitis,chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, hepatitis gravis were 55%, 43.8%, 87.9%and 70%, respectively. It was higher in cirrhosis than acute hepatitis, chronic hepatitis(P=0.008, 0.000, respectively). The level of serum adenosine deaminase in cirrhosis patients was higher than that in acute hepatitis patients, chronic hepatitis patients(P=0.003). The serum adenosine deaminase was correlated positively with serum asparate aminotransferase, globulin, the width of portal vein and the thickness of apleen(r=0.214, 0.376, 0.424, 0.306, respectively), it was correlated negatively with serum albumin and cholinesterase (r=-0.405,-0.351, respectively). Conclusion In patients with viral hepatitis, the higher serum adenosine deaminase expressed the decrease of liver synthesization function, it could not reflect the harm of liver cells and cholestasis perfectly.

Key words: viral hepatitis, adenosine deaminase, liver function, liver synthesization function