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← Return to Liver or Kidney Problem??
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Hi, Thank you for the welcome and information. I need all I can get! 🙂
I have an annual exam including routine blood work. This is the first time I've ever had abnormal results. Last year I skipped my labs due to COVID-19. Only the abnormal tests are below:
April: WBC 4.4 ALK Phos 153 C EGFR 56.
July: ALK Phos 180 Creat Serum 1.1 Creat EGFR 50 WBC 4.4.
july 29: Liver Ultrasound -revealed coarsened heterogeneous echotexture & size at upper limits of normal (15.9 cm). Hepatopedal flow in the portal vein. No gallbladder. Pancreas appears ok. Right kidney shows no evidence of hydronephrosis, shadowing renal calculi or suspicious mass. No ascites is appreciated in the visualized abdomen. No Murphy's sign. Possible underlying chronic liver disease.
Aug 4: Creat EGFR 50 Creat Serum 1.1 Ferritin 15.3 Alkaline Phos153
Bilirubin is normal. This is all I know. Does that help answer my question?
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Good morning! More clues revealed to the puzzle! Thank you. This helps put more pieces in place. I know it’s really intimidating seeing reports and not understanding what the heck they all mean.
I’ve gotten a crash course through immersion I guess you could say. For months I was having daily blood draws to watch all the bodily functions. With the help of my transplant team, my husband and I learned to read and understand all the numbers at a glance.
At one point I had an acute medical event which required immediate reaction. The med I was given worked for the critical issue but it had my ALP zooming up into the 700s. Fortunately I was in the hospital at the time and the doctors quickly got the liver damage under control. Our livers can be very resilient…
Looking at the past CBC results from April, July and August…all of your numbers are still not that far from norm.
The ALP (alk pho) at 183 was moving into a higher range but dropped back to 153 again. High “normal” for an adult is 140.
But because it is elevated from your historical normal, your doctor was prudent in making the call to have an ultrasound of your liver. Nice to see he/she is being proactive for your continued good health.
Looking at your liver ultrasound, a coarsened heterogeneous echo means the liver texture isn’t uniform. It’s not very specific. It doesn’t really tell you what’s wrong, only that something is different and merits further study. Fatty deposits, scarring from cirrhosis, hepatitis, etc., can cause the liver texture to change.
The remainder of the test is showing all normal results. Hepatopedal flow is the normal flow of blood into the liver, so that’s good. No issues with kidney, gallbladder, pancreas. No Murphy’s sign (checking for gall bladder issues) So your doctor is keying into possible liver involvement.
The next step might be a liver biopsy to get a sample of the tissue in question. That’s much easier than it sounds! I’ve had several and they are virtually painless and fairly quick.
Have you spoken with your doctor since the latest results on July 29th?