Clinical significance of serum levels of human hepatocyte growth factor in patients with acute viral hepatitis

: We studied the relationship of serum levels of human hepatocyte growth factor (hHGF) to causative viruses and clinical features in 63 patients at our hospital with serologically diagnosed acute viral hepatitis. Serum levels of hHGF were not correlated with the type of hepatitis virus (A, B, and C) during the acute phase (p 13 weeks) tended to be slightly lower than in nonprolonged cases (p < 0.47). These results suggest that serum levels of hHGF are useful to determine the prognoses of patients with severe hepatitis and to estimate the time until liver damage heals.