The major subdivisions of the biliary tract are the intrahepatic bile ducts, the common bile duct, and the gallbladder. The major diseases of the extrahepatic biliary system are gallbladder inflammation (cholecystitis, acute or chronic), gallbladder stones, and obstruction to the common bile duct by stones or tumor. Obstruction to intrahepatic bile channels can occur as […]
A few comments on the use of liver function tests are indicated. It is not necessary to order every test available and keep repeating them all, even those that give essentially the same information. For example, the ALT is sometimes useful in addition to the AST either to establish the origin of an increased AST […]
This section will review several typical patterns of laboratory values found in liver disease, with their differential diagnosis: 1. An AST value greater than 20 times the upper reference limit. If the AST increase is due to liver disease rather than heart or skeletal muscle injury, this suggests acute hepatitis virus hepatitis. Less common etiologies […]
Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) is a group of closely related enzymes with maximal activity when the pH is about 10. ALP is found in many tissues, with highest concentrations in liver and biliary tract epithelium, bone, intestinal mucosa, and placenta. Liver and bone are the two tissues most commonly responsible for ALP elevation. ALP is composed […]
