A 30-year-old man with acute viral hepatitis needs assessment of CURRENT hepatic synthetic capacity. Which test reflects this most accurately over a period of days?

• A Prothrombin time ✓
• B Serum albumin concentration
• C Serum total protein
• D Serum prealbumin to albumin ratio

Explanation

Prothrombin time depends on clotting factors including factor VII, which has the shortest half-life among them, roughly 4 to 6 hours. Because of this rapid turnover, prothrombin time changes within hours to days of impaired hepatic synthesis, making it the best index of recent synthetic function. Albumin, with a half-life of about 20 days, falls only after weeks of ongoing injury, so a normal albumin does not exclude severe acute hepatocellular disease.

Reference: Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease, 10th ed.

High-yield for: NEET PGINI-CETNExTFMGEUSMLEPLABMRCP

Written and medically reviewed by the StethoPrep medical team.