Association of Serum Copper and Zinc Levels with Liver Cirrhosis and Hepatocellular Carcinoma

This study was done to identify the association between serum copper and zinc levels and the cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC), and to evaluate its diagnostic value on liver diseases. Sixty-three healthy persons, 60 patients with cirrhosis and 33 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma were rendomly selected and investigated for their general characteristics from October 1990 to August 1991. For analysis of the biochemical markers in liver function test and the serum copper and zinc levels, their fasting venous blood were sampled at 9:00 to 11:00 in the morning and centrifuged to separate the serum within one hour. All the samples were immediately analysed for biochemical markers and stored at in polypropylene tubes further copper and zinc analysis. Mean of serum coppper levels was in control, in cirrhosis and in HCC. The value of HCC was statistically significantly higher than that of the control and cirrhosis(p in control, in cirrhosis and in HCC. The values of cirrhosis and HCC were statistically significantly lower than that of control(p