Liver Function Tests

Summary

Your liver helps your body digest food, store energy, and remove poisons. Liver function tests are blood tests that check to see how well your liver is working. They check for liver damage, and can help diagnose liver diseases such as hepatitis and cirrhosis. You may have liver function tests as part of a regular checkup. Or you may have them if you have symptoms of liver disease. Doctors also use the tests to monitor some liver diseases, treatments, and possible side effects of medicines.

Liver function tests measure certain proteins, enzymes, and substances, including:

• Albumin, a protein that the liver makes
• Total protein (TP)
• Enzymes that are found in the liver, including alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT)
• Bilirubin, a yellow substance that is part of bile. It is formed when your red blood cells break down. Too much bilirubin in the blood can cause jaundice. There is also a urine test for bilirubin.
• Prothrombin time, which measures how long it takes for your blood to clot. Prothrombin is made by the liver.

Start Here

• Liver Function Tests (American Liver Foundation)
• Liver Panel (American Association for Clinical Chemistry)

Specifics

• Albumin Blood Test (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Alkaline Phosphatase (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Test (American Association for Clinical Chemistry)
• ALT Blood Test (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• AST Test (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Bilirubin Blood Test (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Chloride Blood Test (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Elevated Liver Enzymes (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
• GGT (Gamma-Glutamyl Transferase) Test (American Association for Clinical Chemistry)
• Globulin Test (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Total Protein and Albumin/Globulin Ratio Test (American Association for Clinical Chemistry)
• Urobilinogen in Urine (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Assessment of cholestasis in drug-induced liver injury by different methods.
• Article: Noninvasive Assessment of Liver Disease in Patients With Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver...
• Article: Assessing the Burden of Abnormal LFTs and the Role of the...
• Liver Function Tests -- see more articles

Children

• Blood Test: Bilirubin (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
• Hepatic (Liver) Function Panel (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Patient Handouts

• Alanine transaminase (ALT) blood test (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Albumin - blood (serum) test (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• ALP - blood test (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Alpha-1 antitrypsin test (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) blood test (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Bilirubin - blood (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) blood test (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Prothrombin time (PT) (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Total protein (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish