Prolactin concentration in the serum of male patients with chronic hepatitis C

In this work we analysed the dynamics of prolactin serum concentration in male patients with chronic hepatitis C. A group of 52 men were included in the study, 26 of them constituted the control group. The diagnosis of the disease was confirmed by the presence of HCV-RNA in the serum and by the histological examination of the liver. None of the examined men was diagnosed with any co-existing disease nor any infection markers of HAV and HBV were found. The prolactin concentration was determined in the serum of patients twice: on the 2nd day of hospitalisation and after 4 weeks of hospitalisation by the use of radioimmunological method (RIA) applying a prepared set of reagents RIA-PROL-CTK-4 (Sorin Biomedica, Italy). The results were statistically analysed. An analysis of the dynamics of prolactin serum concentration in male patients with chronic hepatitis C shows a statistically important increase in this hormone serum concentration.