Liver Function Tests

What Do Liver Function Test Results Mean?

Liver function test results can be confusing. Honestly, unless you're a trained and tested medical professional, your eyes probably glaze over when you get results of your liver function tests.

Liver function tests seem to include a lot of medical mumbo jumbo that's completely unintelligible to normal humans. So here's an attempt at translating some industry specific verbiage about liver function tests into words a third grader can understand.

Serum Bilirubin Test - This liver function test tells you how much bilirubin you have in your blood. If it's higher than it should be, it might be telling you there's an obstruction of bile flow. It could also indicate that the liver is having trouble processing the stuff.

What is bilirubin, you ask? And why should you care? Bilirubin is the stuff that's made during the normal breakdown of red blood cells by the liver. An oversupply of bilirubin causes jaundice, characterized by a yellow skin color, and also warrants further investigation as to why it's happening.

Serum Albumin Test - This test is used to measure the level of albumin. Albumin is a protein that makes up part of blood plasma and helps regulate the pressure and volume of plasma in the body. Albumin is produced by the liver--and only by the liver--so if your liver function test is showing levels that are too high or too low, your doctor will know there's a problem that requires further investigation.

Serum Alkaline Phosphatase Test - Alkaline phosphatase is found in a lot of different tissues in the human body, but the highest concentrations are in the liver, biliary tract, and bones. This test helps detect liver lesions that may cause biliary obstruction, such as tumors or abscesses. It also aides in assessing overall liver function. 

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