Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and, according to 2010 information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, each year about 785,000 Americans suffer a first heart attack, while another 470,000 who have...
Once a sample of blood is drawn from a vein, the physician can order several laboratory tests, including the liver enzymes function test. An increase in liver enzymes in the bloodstream can indicate injured liver cells. The amount of increase...
The liver serves many metabolic functions, including the production of enzymes, which are chemicals that help reactions occur in the body. Inflammation or other conditions that affect the liver can cause these enzymes to leak out into the...
When your body stores too much iron, your liver may be affected and release certain enzymes into your bloodstream. Your health-care provider may wish to test your blood for any or all of several liver enzymes or for various indicators of your iron...
The digestive process transforms food into microscopic particles that nourish the body. Humans utilize two types of digestion -- mechanical, such as chewing, and chemical, using enzymes. Digestive juices hold these enzymes and are released by the...
As of 2011, the prevalence of statin use has climbed considerably. From 1988 to 1994, only 2 percent of Americans were prescribed statins. That number increased to 25 percent of Americans from 2005 to 2008. With the rate of use on the rise,...
Your liver is a metabolically active organ that detoxifies the foods you eat, breaks down and recycles aging red blood cells, processes glucose and manufactures cholesterol, hormones, clotting proteins and other important molecules. To perform its...
Lithium carbonate, more commonly just called lithium, is a medication used to treat bipolar disorder. The older term for bipolar disorder is manic-depressive illness. Lithium decreases both the frequency and the intensity of the manic phase of the...
Liver enzyme blood tests are often performed as part of a more comprehensive test called a liver function test. The reason for this is because liver enzyme results only tell part of the story related to liver health and condition. Liver enzyme...
Laboratory blood tests can help doctors to diagnose problems in their patients. While there is no such thing as a "standard blood test," there are several common blood test panels that your doctor may recommend. These can be ordered as part of a...
Elevated liver enzymes don't cause high triglycerides, but the two conditions can indicate that you suffer from closely related conditions: high cholesterol and fatty liver disease. If your doctor tells you that you have one or both of these...
When fat cells replace normal tissue in the liver, your doctor may diagnosis fatty liver. Fatty liver disease is divided into two types: alcoholic and nonalcoholic. Nonalcoholic fatty liver affects 20 to 30 percent of American adults, according to...
Celiac disease patients experience an immune system reaction where the body attacks gluten protein passing through the gut and accidentally causes damage to the cells of the intestine. For 50 percent of the people with celiac disease, this...
The liver is a large organ located in the upper abdomen that helps remove waste products from your body, stores nutrients, produces bile for digestion and breaks down proteins. A healthy liver normally produces certain enzymes that aid in the...
An elevated liver enzyme level can occur due to liver injury or as a result of liver inflammation. This causes large amounts of enzymes to be release from the liver and into the bloodstream, and can mean potential liver disease. Liver enzymes work...
The use of herbal supplements often causes a great deal of controversy because the FDA does not monitor them for purity, safety or effectiveness, causing production standards to vary widely. Though black cohosh has a long history in traditional...
Alcoholic dementia is caused by excessive and long-term use of alcohol. Symptoms---as with other forms of dementia---include memory loss, poor judgment and confusion. In addition, people suffering from alcohol abuse often develop physical ailments...
Your doctor might order Lipitor (atorvastatin), a statin drug, to treat high cholesterol. Lipitor can cause problems in some individuals. It is important to recognize side effects and report them to your physician. Frequent blood tests to monitor...
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, commonly called NSAIDs, can relieve pain, reduce inflammation and lower fevers, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians. Available by prescription and over-the-counter, NSAIDs block the...
The liver, one of the most important organs, has many metabolic and regulatory roles in the body including the processing of all things ingested, eliminating wastes and filtering the blood. In order to perform these tasks, proteins called enzymes...
The term "muscle enzymes" refers to what medical professionals call cardiac enzymes. The muscle enzyme test is one of a number that a doctor may order for someone suffering from chest pain, shortness of breath, profuse sweating, unexplained...
A normal liver contains a certain amount of fat in its cells. Fatty liver is characterized by the buildup of fat in the liver cells. The American Liver Foundation states that if more than 10 percent of the liver's weight is from fat, then fatty...
In a society that stresses the importance of low cholesterol to reduce your risk of heart disease, it may come as a shock to discover that high cholesterol can damage more than your heart -- it may also damage your liver. Taking every possible...
Liver function tests are biochemical measurements of blood levels of various substances to assess overall liver health. Although the term "liver function tests" is commonly used, it is a misnomer because none of these measurements directly assess...
Testing levels of various substances in the blood can provide information about how the liver is functioning and whether it is currently sustaining damage. These blood tests are collectively referred to as liver function tests, or LFTs. LFTs can...
Cystic fibrosis, or CF, is an inherited disease, which occurs most commonly in the Caucasian population. According to the Mayo Clinic, CF occurs in about 1 out of every 3000 live births. The disease develops when a baby inherits two copies of a...
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a herpes virus that most adults in the United States have been exposed to. The virus remains in the body for life. In a healthy adult, the virus produces mild symptoms or no symptoms at all. However, in someone with a...
Fructose intolerance is a hereditary disorder whereby the body does not contain the enzyme aldolase B. This protein is necessary to convert glycogen derived from fructose into glucose for use as energy in cells. However, when a person lacks...
Simvastatin is a prescription statin drug introduced in 1991 by Merck under the brand name of Zocor. Simvastatin is classified as a HMG-Co-A reductase inhibitor and was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to lower cholesterol and...
