Is liver function normal? You still need these 3 tests

Yesterday, a 40-year-old patient with Hepatitis B came to see me in Jinan. Because his liver function was normal, the patient had not received any antiviral treatment. Recently, he came to me for examination because of persistent pain in the right upper abdomen.

Considering the patient's age, even if there is no major problem with the test results, as long as his viral load is still positive and the hepatitis B surface antigen has not turned negative, he needs to undergo antiviral treatment. At the same time, he also needs to check the liver color ultrasound, liver elasticity, and four liver fibrosis items to see if there is any liver fibrosis.

Clinically, there are many patients, like this patient, who think that everything is fine as long as their liver function is normal. However, Dr. Zhu wants to tell you that liver function tests are not a panacea. They are just one of our auxiliary tests for liver conditions in clinical practice. If you want to understand the condition of your liver, you still need to conduct further tests: liver bomb, liver color ultrasound, and alpha-fetoprotein.

Only when the results of these three tests are normal can we be sure that there is no major problem with your liver! If your alpha-fetoprotein level is elevated, you must pay attention to it because it is a tumor marker and the normal value will not exceed 7!