Correspondence on Letter regarding “Is liver biopsy essential to identifying the immune tolerant phase of chronic hepatitis B?”

Article information

Clin Mol Hepatol. 2023;29(3):820-820

Publication date (electronic) : 2023 May 19

doi : https://doi.org/10.3350/cmh.2023.0135

Joo Hyun Oh¹, Dong Hyun Sinn^,2

¹Department of Medicine, Nowon Eulji Medical Center, Eulji University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

²Department of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

Corresponding author : Dong Hyun Sinn Department of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 81 Irwon-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 06351, Korea Tel: +82-2-3410-3409, Fax: +82-2-3410-6983, E-mail: dh.sinn@samsung.com

Editor: Seung Up Kim, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Korea

Received 2023 April 4; Accepted 2023 April 5.

Dear Editor,

We would like to thank Professor Emiroglu [1] for showing interest in our paper. According to the guidelines established by the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease, the upper limit of normal for alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels in healthy adult males is reported to range between 29–33 U/L [2]. However, to accommodate for differences in repeat testing for the same sample and to improve management decisions [3], it has been recommended to update the upper limit of normal for ALT in males to 35 U/L. Therefore, we agree that “<35 U/L” would be a more appropriate reference range for guidance. We will be mindful of any small errors that could cause confusion in decision-making.