Laboratory diagnosis of hepatobiliary disease: hepatic function tests and hepatic biopsy

摘要

Although elevations in serum hepatic enzyme activity are highly sensitive indicators of hepatobiliary disease, they often lack the specificity necessary to determine if clinically important hepatic disease is present. In order to determine this, morespecific diagnostic hepatic function tests are employed. These hepatic function tests measure the synthetic or excretory capacity of the liver and include determination of serum or blood concentrations of plasma proteins, bilirubin, bile acids, ammoniaor glucose.