<p>This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.</p> <p>From 1980 through 1988, biliary surgery was performed in 197 patients with acute gallstone disease and
concomitant elevation of serum glutamic oxalacetic transaminase (SGOT) or serum glutamic pyruvic
transaminase (SGPT) of over 300 Karmen units. In 137 patients, anatomic inspection and liver biopsy
were performed during the acute stage of the disease. Impacted and floating bile duct stones were found
in 69 (50%) and in 43 (32%) of the 137 patients, respectively. The main liver histology was necrosis of
liver cells. After surgery, high serum transaminase fell rapidly with immediate recovery in 99% of the
patients. In the remaining 60 patients, their signs and symptoms settled soon after initial conservative
treatment and surgery was performed after an average time of 21 days. At laparotomy, impacted bile
duct stones were found in 2 (3%) and liver histology revealed regeneration of liver cells.</p> <p>These findings suggest that marked elevation of serum transaminase in patients with acute gallstone
disease might be due to an acute inflammatory liver cell injury caused by impacted bile duct stones or
migrating stones, which would be transient and reversible after early resolution of the bile duct
obstruction.</p>
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HPB Surg. 1991; 4(2):95-107