What is the liver reserve function test

Liver function is very important to us, and when many patients take medicine, they need to consider the patient's liver and kidney function, so that doctors can prepare appropriate medicine for patients. If the liver function is damaged, our body's protein synthesis ability will decrease, and there will be some problems with the detoxification function, and our skin will be prone to acne. So what do we need to check for liver reserve function?

Liver reserve function refers to the liver's additional potential to withstand surgery, trauma, and blows, that is, the ability to repair trauma and regenerate the liver in addition to the metabolism, protein synthesis or degradation, and detoxification functions required by the body. Understanding liver reserve function plays an important role and significance in clinical applications, and can accurately determine the condition and predict the prognosis of cirrhosis and related liver diseases. There are many methods for this test. This article mainly summarizes them from the following aspects.

Cirrhosis is a common disease and one of the main causes of death in my country. It is a chronic liver disease characterized by diffuse fibrosis, pseudolobules and regenerative nodule formation of liver tissue. Clinically, multiple systems are affected, with liver function damage and portal hypertension as the main manifestations. In the late stage, serious complications such as gastrointestinal bleeding, hepatic encephalopathy, and secondary infection often occur. Some cirrhosis can turn into liver cancer, and most patients lose their lives during the cirrhosis stage.

Liver reserve function refers to the liver's extra potential to withstand surgery, trauma and impact, that is, the trauma repair ability and liver regeneration ability in addition to the metabolism, protein synthesis or degradation, and detoxification functions required by the body. When the human liver develops cirrhosis or fatty liver, clinicians need to assess the patient's condition and understand the liver's reserve function. There are many methods to reflect the liver's reserve function, and each method has its advantages and limitations. In clinical work, we cannot rely on a single method to evaluate the liver. A combination of multiple methods is needed to obtain more accurate results. The current methods for detecting liver reserve function at home and abroad are summarized as follows.

1. Detection of specific substances produced by the body or liver itself

1.1 Liver function test The liver is the main site for the synthesis of proteins and various enzymes in the body. Liver function tests mainly include the detection of AST, ALT, GGT, ALP and bilirubin, which respectively reflect liver cell damage, biliary obstruction and bile stasis, and liver cell uptake, binding and excretion functions. In hepatitis B cirrhosis, diffuse fibrosis of liver parenchymal cells occurs, affecting the synthesis of proteins and enzymes, causing changes in the concentrations of various proteins and enzyme activities. Although the above indicators can reflect the damage of liver function to a certain extent, judging the liver reserve function based on these indicators one-sidedly or in isolation often leads to great deviation.