Endocrine Abstracts

Backgraound: The liver occupies a central position in lipid metabolism. Free fatty acids (FFAs) are taken up by the liver to join the hepatic pool of FFA, a portion of which the liver synthesizes. Fatty liver occurs when lipid accumulation exceeds the normal 5% of liver weight. In the macrovesicular type, large fat droplets balloon the liver cell, displacing the nucleus to the periphery of the cell, like an adipocyte. Triglyceride accumulates most commonly because it has the highest turnover rate of all hepatic fatty acid esters. We investigated the plasma levels of uric acid in the patients with fatty liver and to correlate it with ultrasonographically measured liver echogenity.

Methods: Fasting plasma levels of cholesterol and triglycerides were detected in the 91 patients with fatty liver and 47 healthy subjects. Liver echogenity was measured by 3.75 mHz ultrasound probe and was graded by comparison with renal paranchymal echogenity.

Results: Fasting plasma levels of was detected in the ninetyone patients with fatty liver and fortyseven healthy subjects. In the fatty liver group, plasma levels of uric acid was 5.3±1.8 (1.8–11.0) mg/dl. The grading of liver echogenity was 1.9±0.6 (1–3) in the fatty liver group. In the control group, plasma levels of uric acid was 4.4±1.3 (2.1–7.3) mg/dl. The grading of liver echogenity was 1.0 ± 0.1 (1.0–1.0). Plasma levels of uric acid were higher in the fatty liver group those of the control group (P(0.05).

Conclusions: Hyperuricemia has been found 80 per cent in hypertriglyceridemic patients. However, hypertriglyceridemia has been found 50–75 per cent in patients with gout. Several studies have been detected hyperuricemia in patients with hyperlipidemia and fatty liver. We observed that there is hyperlipidemia and hyperuricemia in the patients with fatty liver.