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Different
laboratory examinations give clues about whether you have a liver
disease, what is its cause and how your liver works.
- Search
tests:
these indicate, whether there is a liver disease or not.
- Transaminases (SGOT or AST and SGPT or
ALT) ; if they are elevated this indicates that liver cells are dying.
- Alkaline phosphatase; if eleveated, it
indicates problems with bile formation (cholestasis).
- g-GT
is elevated together with alkaline phospatase when there are problems
in bile formation. When elevated in isolation, it usually indicates
fatty liver and can be ignored.
- Diagnostic
tests yield clues to the cause of liver disease
- Virus serology (e.g. HBs und
anti-HBc, anti-HCV) measure proteins made by a virus or antibodies
directed against them. If these tests hint at a viral hepatitis, the
virus can be measured directly: HBV-DNA in the case of hepatitis B and
HCV-RNA in the case of Hepatitis C.
- Auto-Antibodies indicate the presence of
autoimmune liver disease
- Specialiced tests can indicate the presence
of hemochromatosis (transferrin saturation, ferritin), Wilson's
disease (copper and cerulplasmin) or of
a-1-antitrypsin deficiency.
- Functions
tests indicate direct (quantitative tests, performed only in
specialized centers) or indirect information about the functional
reserve of the liver. Among the latter, your physician usually measures:
- Bilirubin: as a measure of the excretory
function of the liver
- Albumin and prothrombin time measure proteins
which are formed in the liver and give an estimate of the synthetic
function of your liver.
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Stiftung
für
Leberkrankheiten
Institut für Klinische Pharmakologie
Universität Bern
Murtenstrasse 35,
Postfach 49
3010 Bern
0041 (0)31 632 31 91
Info@leberstiftung.ch |
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