The Wiki
The Wiki contains all the articles on the web site. The articles are put into categories and 'tagged' for easier searching.
Artichokes When it comes to choosing a vegetable, discover why there may not be any better than the artichoke for your liver’s health. by Nicole Cutler, L.Ac. The prevalence of chronic liver disease is staggering. Affecting an increasing number of Americans, many with chronic liver disease cannot be cured by modern medicine. Instead, they must…
Salt Intake Patients with cirrhosis tend to retain salt. Cirrhosis can lead to portal hypertension, low albumin levels and increased sodium retention, which can culminate in the development of ascites. Diet is the first and most important intervention in patients with cirrhosis. In the earliest stages of cirrhosis, urinary sodium excretion is plentiful, and a…
A Diet To Manage Fatty Liver Disease Fatty liver, popularly recognized as FLD or fatty liver disease, is brought on by too much build up of fats within the liver cells. If such condition is not given the proper attention and control, it might be fatal in the long run. The great news is that…
Special Considerations in Interpreting Liver Function Tests DAVID E. JOHNSTON, M.D., University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, New Mexico Am Fam Physician. 1999 Apr 15;59(8):2223-2230. A number of pitfalls can be encountered in the interpretation of common blood liver function tests. These tests can be normal in patients with chronic hepatitis or cirrhosis.…
Problems With Electrolyte Balance The level of any electrolyte in the blood can become too high or too low. The main electrolytes in the blood are sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, chloride, phosphate, and carbonate. Most commonly, problems occur when the level of sodium, potassium, or calcium is abnormal. Often, electrolyte levels change when water levels…
Looking at Liver Function Bloodwork When you go for a physical, your healthcare practitioner frequently orders blood tests. Many folks first find out they have hep C after undergoing a routine blood test and finding that one or more of the tests is abnormal. There’s no one test that indicates chronic hepatitis C disease. Tests…
Liver Function Tests The purpose of this page is to assist people to understand the reasons for the tests that are generally performed and make some sense of the results. It is not intended to encourage “self diagnosis” A reliable diagnosis of a liver condition can only be made by a qualified medical practitioner after…
What Causes Liver Enzymes to Elevate? Tests that measure liver enzymes are blood tests that specify how much of the special protein that makes up liver enzymes is present in the liver. This enzyme increases the liver’s chemical reactions in order to measure the functions that the liver performs. These include such functions as excretion,…
ALT/AST Enzyme Values Medical Author: Siamak Nabili, MD, MPH Medical Editor: William C. Shiel, Jr., MD, FACP, FACR Introduction to liver blood test An initial step in detecting liver damage is a simple blood test to determine the presence of certain liver enzymes in the blood. Under normal circumstances, these enzymes reside within the cells…
Imaging Tests Imaging is essential for accurately diagnosing biliary tract disorders and is important for detecting focal liver lesions (eg, abscess, tumor). It is limited in detecting and diagnosing diffuse hepatocellular disease (eg, hepatitis, cirrhosis). Ultrasonography: Ultrasonography, traditionally done transabdominally and requiring a period of fasting, provides structural, but not functional, information. It is the…