BIOCHEMICAL EVALUATION OF LIVER FUNCTION

Key words: Liver function test, Liver enzymes, Total serum bile acids concentration

Liver function tests are a simple way to explore liver function and are a helpful tool to the clinician to confirm the clinical suspect of liver disease. Practically, evaluation of liver function includes determination of total and conjugated bilirubin as well as serum enzymes by exploring the presence of hepatocellular or cholangiocellular damage such as aminotransferases, alkaline phosphatase and gamma glutamyl transferase, and serum albumin and protrombin activity which enable to determine synthetic liver activity. Total serum bile acids concentration is useful in evaluating cholestatic liver disease and complete blood cell count may give relevant information on the presence and progression of portal hypertension by evaluating the reduction of leukocyte and platelets count related to hypersplenism.