What Is A Liver Function Test? Common Liver Function Tests

The liver is a part of the digestive system, which performs many important functions in the body such as detoxifying, synthesizing proteins or producing substances that aid in the digestion of food. Therefore, it is essential to check liver function regularly. So what are the common liver function tests and where do they get accurate results, let's follow the article below.
What is a liver function test?
Liver function tests are performed to assess the health of the liver by measuring the index of protein, liver enzymes and bilirubin in the blood. Through the assessment of liver function will help the doctor make accurate diagnosis and advice on timely and effective treatment of the disease

.
Why should a liver function test be performed?
Performing liver function tests regularly brings benefits to patients such as:
- Help monitor and detect the extent of liver damage.
- Diagnose the cause of liver dysfunction, thereby helping the doctor have an effective treatment.
- Detecting potential diseases such as liver cancer, cirrhosis .



. to take timely preventive measures.
- Liver function tests also help doctors monitor the effectiveness of the current treatment regimen applied to patients.
Liver function tests help detect disease early to provide effective treatment for the disease
Cases should perform liver function test
Cases where liver function tests may be performed to assess liver health include:
- Check for liver damage caused by viruses such as hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C ...
- Watch for side effects of some drugs that affect the liver
- Patients with gallbladder disease.




- People who drink a lot of alcohol.
- People with liver dysfunction.
- People with a history of liver disease, to monitor the effectiveness after treatment.
- People with diabetes, high blood pressure, anemia ...
What does a liver function test include?
Liver function tests are divided into the following groups:
The test team assessed liver necrosis
- AST (Aspartate aminotransferase
Normal AST is <40UI / L. AST is more common in cardiac and striated muscle than in the liver; Besides, it is also present in other organs and cells such as kidney, brain, pancreas, lung, white blood cells and red blood cells.



- ALT (Alanine aminotransferase)
Normal ALT <40 UI / L. ALT appears mainly in the cytoplasm of liver cells so when the liver is damaged, the ALT level will increase more than normal. The intracellular enzyme transaminase will increase when the liver is damaged. Increased transaminase levels are associated with several liver diseases: 3000 UI / L: Occurs in patients with acute or chronic viral hepatitis, drug-induced liver damage, toxins, prolonged vascular collapse <300 UI / L: Occurs in patients with hepatitis due to excessive alcohol use <100 UI / L: Occurs in patients with acute, mild viral hepatitis, chronic liver (cirrhosis, chronic hepatitis, metastatic liver), biliary obstruction or steatosis. For biliary jaundice, a common bile duct stone, ALT often increases <500 UI / l. LDH (Lactate dehydrogenase) The normal LDH index is 5-30 UI / L. This is a non-specific test for the liver because LDH can occur in the heart, muscles, kidneys, red blood cells, white blood cells, etc., so it is of little value in identifying diseases related to the bile.


If the LDH index is prolonged, accompanied by an increase in ALT, it may be due to malignant infiltrative lesions in the liver.
Ferritin
Normal Ferritin index in men is 100-300 mg / L, in women 50-200 mg / L.
This is the protein that stores iron in the cells, which is responsible for regulating iron absorption in the digestive tract depending on the needs of the body.
Decreased Ferritin index is common in people who are on iron-deficient and vegetarian diets; people with iron deficiency anemia, chronic hemolytic anemia, frequent blood donors, hemodialysis.
Increased Ferritin index is seen in iron overload, cancer (liver, lung, pancreas, breast, kidney), hematological diseases (Hodgkin's disease, acute leukemia), inflammatory and infectious syndrome, collagen disease ), alcohol poisoning, hemolytic anemia, thalassemia ...
ALT tests help assess the process of necrosis in the liver
Examination group investigates excretion and detoxification functions
- Bilirubin
+ Serum bilirubin: Bilirubin is a metabolite of hemoglobin and enzymes.



95% bilirubin is generated from degradation of red blood cells.
Bilirubin consists of two main components, direct and indirect bilirubin. Normally, the total bilirbin concentration is 0.8-1.2mg / dL; indirect is 0.6-0.8mg / dL; Directly is 0.2-0.



4mg / dL.
+ Bilirubinuria: Only present when the hepatobiliary is damaged.
- Urobilinogen: Normal Urobilinogen index is 0.2-1.2 units (Watson method).
Urobilinogen is metabolized by intestinal bilirubin, reabsorbed into the bloodstream by the gut-liver cycle and excreted in the urine.
- Alkaline phosphatase (ALP)
Mild and moderate increase in ALP is common in patients with hepatitis, cirrhosis, metastases or infiltrates in the liver (leukemia, lymphoma, sarcoidosis). ALP is 3-10 times higher than normal due to biliary obstruction or extrahepatic
- 5 ucle Nucleotidase (5NT
Normal concentration 5NT 0.



3-2.6 Bondasky / dL.

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