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Laboratory Evaluation of Hepatobiliary Disease

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Book cover Pediatric Hepatology and Liver Transplantation

Abstract

The clinical symptoms in hepatobiliary diseases may be very subtle and in fact often nonexisting. Laboratory evaluation is therefore central both for establishing the right diagnosis and assessing the course during the follow-up. However, a limitation is that the different biochemical tests may be unspecific and rarely give the actual etiological diagnosis. Furthermore, pathological results of some of the tests are not exclusive for liver diseases, for example, elevated aminotransferases may also signal a muscular disorder. To this end, it is necessary to understand the different aspects of the often called liver function tests in order to characterize the findings properly and understand when to look for the causes of pathologic laboratory markers elsewhere. Another key point to the interpretation of these tests is the existence of age-dependent variations in normal levels as well as the dynamic changes over time in reaction to different underlying diseases.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Paediatrics, Karolinska University Hospital and CLINTEC, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

    Henrik Arnell & Björn Fischler

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  1. Henrik Arnell
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  2. Björn Fischler
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Correspondence to Henrik Arnell .

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  1. Paediatric Hepatology, Gastroenterology and Transplantation, Hospital Papa Giovanni XXIII Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy

    Lorenzo D'Antiga

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Arnell, H., Fischler, B. (2019). Laboratory Evaluation of Hepatobiliary Disease. In: D'Antiga, L. (eds) Pediatric Hepatology and Liver Transplantation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96400-3_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96400-3_4

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