Clinical characteristics and mechanism of liver damage in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome.

Abstract

Liver damage of patients with SARS usually occurs in the early stage of the disease with a high occurrence rate and a prolonged profile, which can be characterized by early, obvious decrease of albumin levels and slightly abnormal levels of ALT. The liver damage induced by SARS seems to be caused by SARS virus directly rather than by low SaO2 or high fever. Hepatotoxic drugs may play a role in increasing the severity of liver damage or prolonging the time of liver function recovery.