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

Article information

Clin Mol Hepatol. 2023;29(3):812-812

Publication date (electronic) : 2023 May 8

doi : https://doi.org/10.3350/cmh.2023.0132

Halil Haldun Emiroglu

Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Department of Pediatrics, Selçuk University Faculty of Medicine, Konya, Türkiye

Corresponding author : Halil Haldun Emiroglu Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Department of Pediatrics, Selçuk University Faculty of Medicine, Selcuklu/Konya 42131, Türkiye Tel: +90 (332) 241 21 83, Fax: +90 (332) 241 21 84, E-mail: haldunemiroglu@gmail.com

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

Received 2023 March 30; Revised 2023 April 6; Accepted 2023 April 7.

Dear Editor,

I read with great interest the editorial paper by Oh and Sinn [1] entitled “Is liver biopsy mandatory to identify immunetolerant phase of chronic hepatitis B?” published online ahead of print. In their paper, Oh and Sinn [1] suggested that the status of patients presumed to be in the immune-tolerant phase without histological information should be carefully evaluated. I would like to draw attention to the following printing error related to the normal serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels according to the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease (AASLD) guidelines. The recommended normal serum ALT level for males was incorrectly written as “<33 U/L” in both the text and Table 1. However, according to the AASLD 2018 hepatitis B guidance [2], the upper limit of normal for ALT in males is 35 U/L.

I believe that correcting this printing error will prevent any possible confusion in daily practice guiding management decisions.