Okuzeka
Medicine vocabulary · Diagnosis and Tests

Liver function tests

Meaning in medicine, with examples

nounCommon term

In medicine, liver function tests means: A group of blood tests, such as ALT, ALP, bilirubin and albumin, that show whether the liver is inflamed, blocked or working poorly.

In Turkish: karaciğer fonksiyon testleri, KCFT

How it is used

Shortened to LFTs and requested with routine bloods. Doctors describe the pattern as hepatitic (mainly raised ALT/AST) or cholestatic (mainly raised ALP/GGT). Strictly, most of these tests show liver damage rather than function.

Example sentences

  1. His liver function tests are deranged, with an ALT of over 400.

  2. We'll repeat the liver function tests a month after stopping the drug.

Common collocations

  • deranged liver function tests
  • abnormal liver function tests
  • repeat liver function tests
  • check liver function tests
  • jaundiceYellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes, caused by a build-up of bilirubin in the blood.
  • blood testA laboratory check of a blood sample, taken from a vein or a fingertip, to measure things like blood cells, sugar, salts or markers of infection.
  • normal rangeThe span of test values found in most healthy people, against which a patient's result is compared.
  • investigationA test or examination, such as a blood test or a scan, done to find the cause of a patient's problem or to check their condition.

More terms: Diagnosis and Tests

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