This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Investigations

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

Investigations aimed at finding cause:

  • history of alcohol abuse
  • mean cell volume, gamma GTP, serum ferritin, alpha-1 antitrypsin, ceruloplasmin
  • viral titres and antibodies

Investigations aimed at determining severity:

  • plasma biochemistry - clotting studies, bilirubin, AST, albumin, U+Es, glucose (variable but may show raised INR, raised AST, and reduced glucose, sodium and albumin)
  • platelets
  • ultrasound (for liver, spleen and ascites)
  • liver biopsy

Other possible investigations:

  • ascitic tap
  • endoscopy for varices
  • portal pressure measurements
  • EEG for encephalopathy

Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation, such as a web address or phone number. This information will always be displayed when you visit this page