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Liver function tests (LFTs or LFs), also referred to as a hepatic panel or liver panel, are groups of blood tests that provide information about the state of a patient's liver. [1] These tests include prothrombin time (PT/INR), activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), albumin , bilirubin (direct and indirect), and others.
In medicine, the presence of elevated transaminases, commonly the transaminases alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST), may be an indicator of liver dysfunction. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Other terms include transaminasemia , [ 3 ] and elevated liver enzymes (though they are not the only enzymes in the liver).
Less than 10% of people with cirrhotic alcoholic FLD will develop hepatocellular carcinoma, [11] the most common type of primary liver cancer in adults, but up to 45% people with NASH without cirrhosis can develop hepatocellular carcinoma. [12] The condition is also associated with other diseases that influence fat metabolism. [13]
The proportion of AST to ALT in hepatocytes is about 2.5:1, but because AST is removed from serum by the liver sinusoidal cells twice as quickly (serum half-life t 1/2 = 18 hr) compared to ALT (t 1/2 = 36 hr), so the resulting serum levels of AST and ALT are about equal in healthy individuals, resulting in a normal AST/ALT ratio around 1.
A liver can remain fatty without disturbing liver function (MASL), but by various mechanisms and possible insults to the liver, it may also progress into steatohepatitis (MASH), a state in which steatosis is combined with inflammation and sometimes fibrosis. [1] MASH can then lead to complications such as cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.
ALT is commonly measured clinically as part of liver function tests and is a component of the AST/ALT ratio. [6] When used in diagnostics, it is almost always measured in international units/liter (IU/L) [7] or μkat. While sources vary on specific reference range values for patients, 0-40 IU/L is the standard reference range for experimental ...
A number of liver function tests are available to test the proper function of the liver. These test for the presence of enzymes in blood that are normally most abundant in liver tissue, metabolites or products.
Autoimmune hepatitis, formerly known as lupoid hepatitis, plasma cell hepatitis, or autoimmune chronic active hepatitis, is a chronic, autoimmune disease of the liver that occurs when the body's immune system attacks liver cells, causing the liver to be inflamed.