What Can Be Done For Raised AST Levels?

Posted on Sat, 18 Jun 2011

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 Answered on

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Question : Raised AST levels in recent LFT's again, recurring hot flushes, lathagic, and yellowish stools. Aged 42 yrs, female, past history of gall bladder removal, sludge in bile duct

Answered by Dr. Poorna Chandra K.S (20 hours later)

Hi,

A raised AST is seen in people with injury to liver, muscle, lung, kidneys or destruction of RBCs.So we need to look at other clinical clues and LFT parameters to localise it to a liver source. In people with obesity and fatty liver, rapid wight loss itself can induce inflammation. Some drugs can also injure the liver and cause AST elevation. A recurrent stone in the CBD has to be ruled out in view of your past history even though some amount of ALP elevation in expected. Lethargy could be due to some nutritional deficiencies which can occur in people after bariatric surgery or a liver disease. Yellow stools are normal and donot point towards anything. Hotflushes are usually a reflection of hormonal changes ( ? menopausal) or sympathetic nervous dysfunction (diabetes).

Hence consult a GI specialist for further work up.
Regards.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar