HealthCareMagic is now Ask A Doctor - 24x7 | https://www.askadoctor24x7.com

What Do These Liver AST And ALT Levels Indicate?

Posted on Wed, 30 Apr 2014

Question: Hi my liver ALT levels came out at 74 IU/L and my AST is 35IU/L and my GGT is 36 IU/L. My ferritin levels are 208.00ng/mL. Am I getting liver disease

Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (28 minutes later)

Brief Answer: No need to worry. Detailed Answer: Hello! Thank you for the query. No, you are not getting liver disease. Please note that your results are only slightly elevated. This is not due to some disease. Most common reason of such results is diet (fatty foods, spicy foods) or alcohol intake. Fatty liver can also give such liver tests results. I suggest you to avoid fatty foods, spicy foods and alcohol and have this tests repeated in a month or so. In a meanwhile please also have abdominal ultrasound to see if there is no fatty liver. Hope this will help. Feel free to ask further questions. Regards.

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

Follow up: Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (48 minutes later)

Thank you very much. I am having an ultrasound tomorrow to check the state of my liver. Further last year in august I checked my liver function and my ALT was 41UI/L then and my AST was 23 UI/L then . Clearly they have gone up. Do you still think there is no need to worry? I am not a consumer of alcohol in general. I may have a glass of wine or a bottle of cider every 6 months or so. I like my spicy food very much. My total cholestrol is 4.25, my triglycerides is 1, and my fasting glucose is 5.3. I also love eating rich sweet things.

Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (17 minutes later)

Brief Answer: . Detailed Answer: Please note that in case of any serious liver disease, AST and ALT are around 1000. So yours results are really nothing to be worried about. Spicy food is enough to give such results. Please try to focus on diet improvement and recheck it after a month. It should be enough to improve this enzymes levels. Regards.

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

Follow up: Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (19 hours later)

I have had my ultrasound today and yes there was evidence of fatty liver. My liver is not enlarged at all though. However the scan did show a small fluid filled cyst in my right kidney with some calcification on the walls of the cyst. The cyst is 1 cm in size. The doctor said not to worry about it but I requested a CT scan. This cyst is really worrying me. I was not expecting this at all. Is this something I should lose sleep over. Obviously I am worried about cancer.

Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (2 minutes later)

Brief Answer: No need to worry. Detailed Answer: Cyst is just an empty space in an organ filled with clear fluid. Kidney cysts are very common. This is nothing you should be worried about. Just an ultrasound once a year is necessary to see if it does not get bigger. The risk of cancer due to such cyst is hardly possible. Regards.

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

Follow up: Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (3 minutes later)

Thank you. What about the fact that there is what the doctor refers to as "some calcification " in the wall of the cyst. Does calcification mean the cyst is pre cancerous.

Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (16 minutes later)

Brief Answer: . Detailed Answer: Calcification is the reason why you will have a CT. Your cyst is small and even if some calcification is present, most likely it wont need any surgery. Just an observation. So answering your question, no, it is not cancerous. Regards.

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

Follow up: Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (22 minutes later)

My report says " the liver has a diffuse hyperechoic appearance. No focal hepatic lesion is seen. The liver is not enlarged. There is however a new finding of a right renal mid pole cyst with a partially calcified wall, measuring approximately 1.5 cm in diameter. " I just got the above report. It looks like I have fatty liver for sure. Dr says it can be reversed with diet changes and aggressive exercise regime. I am prepared to tackle this fatty liver head on, but will diet changes and vigorous exercises alone reverse it?

Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (3 hours later)

Brief Answer: . Detailed Answer: Yes, it can be reversed with diet change. Please note that when you eliminate fatty foods from your diet, this fat from liver will be used for metabolic processes in the body. And no new one will appear. Diet is the most important thing in fatty liver treatment. You may also have cholesterol checked to see if some medicines (like statins) are necessary or not. Hope this will help. Regards.

Note: For further follow up on digestive issues share your reports here and Click here.

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