ABSTRACT
Levels of serum zinc, retinol and retinol-binding protein (RBP) were measured in 16 male hypogonadal cirrhotics and compared with 13 male cirrhotic patients without evidence of hypogonadism. Their ages ranged from 20 years to 76 years with a mean of 40.06 +/- 15.6 years (+/- s.e.m.) while non-hypogonadal patients had an age range of 30-55 years with a mean of 41.23 +/- 7.2 years. Mean testicular volume for hypogonadal patients was 6.69 +/- 3.5 cm3 (+/- s.e.m.) while for non-hypogonadal ones it was 12.15 +/- 6.0 cm3. Mean serum zinc level in hypogonadal patients was 4.43 +/- 0.05 mumol/l which was significantly lower than for those without hypogonadism (6.8 +/- 0.09 mumol/l). Similarly serum retinol was lower in hypogonadal patients (0.40 +/- 0.07 mumol/l) than in patients without hypogonadism (0.53 +/- 0.12), although this difference was not statistically significant. RBP was also lower in the hypogonadal patients (0.79 +/- 0.49 mumol/l) than in those without (1.36 +/- 0.74 mumol/l, P less than 0.05). It is concluded that hypogonadal cirrhotics have lower levels of serum zinc and RBP than those without hypogonadism. These deficiencies may contribute to the genesis of hypogonadism in cirrhosis of the liver and supplementation of zinc alone or with vitamin A early in the disease may retard the development of this feature of the disease.
Subject(s)
Hypogonadism/etiology , Liver Cirrhosis/blood , Retinol-Binding Proteins/analysis , Vitamin A/blood , Zinc/blood , Adult , Aged , Humans , Liver Cirrhosis/complications , Male , Middle AgedABSTRACT
Seven hundred and ninety patients had upper gastrointestinal endoscope in a fifteen-year review in the Ahmadu Bello University Hospital, Zaria. Dyspepsia was the commonest indication for the procedure. The male female ratio was 1.5:1 The mean age of the patients was 37.8 years and most patients presented in the 4th and 5th decade of life. Epigastric tenderness was the commonest physical finding and chronic liver disease was seen in only 4.3%. Gastritis and doudenitis were the commonest endoscopic findings. The duodenal and gastric ulcer ratio was 10:1. Gastric and oesophgeal malignancies were seen in the 6th and 7th decade of life. Non-ulcer dyspepsia was seen in 39% of the patients.