High Bilirubin AST and ALT Readings

[Gary495]

Hello
I just had some bloodwork completed and the results came back with elevated AST ALT and Bilirubin levels.

Can someone tell me what this means please.

Many thanks,

Gary

[kenkeith]

For some insight:

ALT, an enzyme appears in liver cells, with lesser amounts in the kidneys, heart, and skeletal muscles, and is a relatively specific indicator of acute liver cell damage. When such damage occurs, ALT is released from the liver cells into the bloodstream, often before jaundice appears, resulting in abnormally high serum levels that may not return to normal for days or weeks.
Very high ALT levels (up to 50 times normal) suggest viral or severe drug-induced hepatitis, or other hepatic disease with extensive necrosis (death of liver cells). (AST levels are also elevated but usually to a lesser degree.) Moderate-to-high levels may indicate infectious mononucleosis, chronic hepatitis, intrahepatic cholestasis or cholecystitis, early or improving acute viral hepatitis, or severe hepatic congestion due to heart failure. Slight-to-moderate elevations of ALT (usually with higher increases in AST levels) may appear in any condition that produces acute hepatocellular (liver cell) injury, such as active cirrhosis, and drug-induced or alcoholic hepatitis.

AST levels fluctuate in response to the extent of cellular necrosis (cell death) and therefore may be temporarily and minimally elevated early in the disease process, and extremely elevated during the most acute phase. Depending on when the initial sample was drawn, AST levels can rise- indicating increasing disease severity and tissue damage- or fall- indicating disease resolution and tissue repair.