Please contact our office: Ranvir Singh, Dr. Stephen Rashbaum, Dr. Long Nguyen, Dr. Nitin Parikh, Dr. Ruth Montalvo, Dr. Abnormal Liver Enzymes. With acute Hepatitis, AST levels usually stay high for about months but can take as long as months to return to normal.
Levels of AST may also be markedly elevated often over times normal as a result of exposure to drugs or other substances that are toxic to the liver as well as in conditions that cause decreased blood flow ischemia to the liver. AST often varies between normal and slightly increased with Chronic Hepatitis, so the test may be ordered frequently to determine the pattern.
Such moderate increases may also be seen in other diseases of the liver, especially when the bile ducts are blocked, or with cirrhosis or certain cancers of the liver. AST may also increase after heart attacks and with muscle injury, usually to a much greater degree than ALT.
Causes The human liver contains thousands of enzymes, which are special types of protein cells that help necessary chemical reactions to take place. Contact Us Please do not include any clinical or personal information on this form.
Please contact our office: Dr. There is a problem with information submitted for this request. Sign up for free, and stay up-to-date on research advancements, health tips and current health topics, like COVID, plus expert advice on managing your health. Error Email field is required. Error Include a valid email address. To provide you with the most relevant and helpful information and to understand which information is beneficial, we may combine your e-mail and website usage information with other information we have about you.
If we combine this information with your PHI, we will treat all of that information as PHI, and will only use or disclose that information as set forth in our notice of privacy practices. You may opt-out of e-mail communications at any time by clicking on the Unsubscribe link in the e-mail.
Our Housecall e-newsletter will keep you up-to-date on the latest health information. Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products. Advertising revenue supports our not-for-profit mission. Any use of this site constitutes your agreement to the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy linked below. A single copy of these materials may be reprinted for noncommercial personal use only. This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information: verify here.
You are likely to find out that your liver tests are abnormal from your healthcare provider, who will tell you what you need to do next. However, if you obtain your test results without explanation, you should contact your healthcare provider to discuss them. In many cases, a single, isolated, slightly abnormal liver function test in a well patient will not signify an underlying problem. However, some liver disorders, including early signs of overuse of alcohol, can produce slight changes especially at first , so it's important to be sure.
Your doctor will want to do further tests and to see, question and examine you, to determine the reason for the blood test abnormality. If you are otherwise well, this will initially be done in primary care.
Options include:. Single abnormalities in the tests do not give diagnoses on their own but the pattern of abnormalities can point to the most likely cause of the problem. When this is combined with speaking to and examining you, your doctor may be able to make a clear diagnosis.
Once the cause of the abnormality has been determined, your doctor will discuss what you need to do next. Note that in most cases except albumin and calcium it is a raised rather than a lowered level in the liver function test which may indicate a problem. In the following descriptions, where low levels can be significant for your health they are also described.
Bilirubin comes from the breakdown of red blood cells in the body. The liver processes conjugates bilirubin so that it can be excreted via the kidneys.
A high bilirubin level can make you appear jaundiced with a yellow tinge to the skin and to the whites of the eyes. The most likely cause of raised bilirubin depends on whether the rise is in bilirubin that the liver has already processed conjugated bilirubin , in the bilirubin that the liver has not yet processed unconjugated bilirubin , or in both. Conjugated bilirubin tends to rise if the flow of bile in the tiny tubes within the liver is blocked, and unconjugated bilirubin tends to rise if the liver calls cannot do their work or there is too much work for them to do.
If the liver is both damaged not working properly and swollen or scarred blocking the drainage system then both types of bilirubin will tend to rise. Unconjugated bilirubin may increase because the liver can't process the bilirubin, or because the body is making an excess of bilirubin by breaking down too many blood cells, and the liver is normal but can't keep up. Increased conjugated bilirubin suggests that the liver is conjugating the bilirubin properly the job of liver cells but not excreting it properly via the bile ducts.
Causes include:. Albumin is the main protein in your serum, and its level is a good guide to long-term liver health. Albumin levels that are abnormally low have the greatest significance for the liver. This is usually due to having the tourniquet on for too long before your blood sample is taken. Sometimes it can be due to a very high-protein diet, as in bodybuilders, or to lack of fluid in the body dehydration , when the blood is more concentrated.
Total protein measures the total of albumin and globulins. It is usually normal in liver disease even if albumin levels are low, as globulin levels tend to increase as albumin levels fall. These substances are also called transferases. They are liver hormones proteins which help do the work of the liver which are normally found inside liver cells rather than in the blood.
If blood levels of transaminases go up this suggests leakage from damaged liver cells due to inflammation or cell death. Creatine kinase comes mainly from muscle, so if it is raised alongside AST and ALT it suggests that the liver may not be the main source of the problem. Marked increases are usually caused by acute injury to the liver by viruses, shortage of oxygen ischaemia or toxic substances. Gamma-glutamyltransferase GGT levels increase in most liver diseases.
0コメント