AST/ALT ratio

The De - Ritis quotient, introduced by de Ritis et al., In medicine is the ratio of the liver enzymes aspartate aminotransferase ( AST or GOT) and alanine aminotransferase ( ALT or GPT), the references to the underlying may be disease of the liver.

Calculation

De - Ritis quotient = ASAT / ALAT (each serum concentrations)

The reference range of the dimensionless De - Ritis quotient is 0.6-0.8.

Assessment

A small De - Ritis quotient (<1) indicates a slight liver damage (eg, viral hepatitis ), a large ratio ( > 1) for a more severe liver damage (eg, chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, often with alcoholism)

Also extrahepatic disease can cause an abnormal De - Ritis quotient. Thus, in acute myocardial infarction, an increased quotient to find his (ASAT / ALAT > 1.3 ).

Application

The De - Ritis quotient is mainly used in liver imaging, in order to make a statement about the seriousness of a liver cell damage or cell necrosis can. Although AST is not specific for liver, but is about 80% in mitochondria and to about 20 % in the cytoplasm. ALAT is almost liver-specific and has its highest activity in the hepatocytes on: It's 20% in the mitochondria and 80% in the cytoplasm. The more mitochondrial enzymes are thus released, the more severe is the hepatocyte.

If liver function tests are otherwise within the reference range, an increased de Ritis quotient is not very meaningful.