Abstract: To investigate to the significance of prealbumin detection in patients with viral hepatitis B.Immunoturbidimetry was performed to measure the prealbumin serum levels in 114 patients with viral hepatitis B and in 20 healthy controls. The serum concentration of PA in patients with viral hepatitis B is lower than that in the controls.The magnitude of reduction from the highest to lowest is as follows:liver cirrhosis→Chonic hepatitic failure→subacute hepatitic failure→chronic hepatitis (severe) →chronic hepatitis (moderate) →acute hepatitis with jaundice→chronic hepatitis (mild) .PA serum levels were progressively decreasing in patients with liver cirrhosis graded as Child-Puch's A?B and C, and the difference is apparent among the different grades.Serum PA is a good indicator of the liver function.In addition, PA is assumed to be an indicator of maximal liver functional capacity and an index of liver cirrhosis grading system in clinical work.