COMMONLY USED PARACETAMOL TOXICITY ON LIVER CAN BE MEASURED BY BLOOD TESTS

Prof Dr,DRAM,HIV /AIDS,HEPATITIS ,SEX DISEASES & WEAKNESS expert,New Delhi,India, +917838059592

Paracetamol is most commonly used medicine by doctors for simple to high fever,antiinflammatory and as pain reliever ,often patients use it themselves by taking it over the counter without consulting a physician. Mostly it is safe and doesnot produce much side effect but in some it can be very lethal and may cause fatal Liver injury but such injury is often reversible if timely we can detect it,Scientist have developed three Blood markers which if raised signify that iver is injured and rising titre indicate progression of disease and decrease indicate improvement.

           "Paracetamol overdose is very common and presents a large workload for already over-stretched emergency departments. These new blood tests can identify who will develop liver injury as soon as they first arrive at hospital. This could transform the care of this large, neglected, patient group," said one of the researchers James Dear of the University of Edinburgh in Britain.

            The study, published in the Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology, showed that the test can accurately predict which patients are going to develop liver problems, and who may need to be treated for longer before they are discharged.The test detects three different molecules in the blood that are associated with liver damage - called miR-122, HMGB1 and FL-K18.

         The researchers measured levels of the three markers in more than 1,000 patients across the UK who needed hospital treatment for paracetamol overdose.They found that it could identify patients at risk of suffering liver damage. The test could also help identify patients who could be safely discharged after treatment.