Alanine aminotransferase flare-up in hepatitis C virus carriers with persistently normal alanine aminotransferase levels in a hyperendemic area of Japan.

Background: The clinical features of hepatitis C virus (HCV) carriers with persistently normal alanine aminotransferase (PNALT) levels (ALT < or = 34 IU/l) have not been fully elucidated. We investigated clinical factors associated with ALT flare-up in PNALT individuals in a HCV hyperendemic area of Japan.

Methods: We analyzed 101 HCV carriers who had PNALT between 1993 and 2000.

[A case of gastric endocrine cell carcinoma with liver metastasis showing rapid growth during pregnancy and marked reduction by systemic chemotherapy after delivery].

A 28-year-old woman was given a diagnosis of gastric endocrine cell carcinoma with multiple liver metastases in 1997. Chemotherapy was administered for treatment after a distal gastrectomy and hepatic tumor resection, and she had shown no sign of relapse after 2002. In February 2004, she was in the third month of pregnancy, and experienced recurrent liver metastasis.