At a routine blood test my liver enzyme blood count has been measured as more than 3 time the norm, I have been referred for an ultrasound of my liver. I have had KD diagnosed about 7 years ago. Does anyone know if KD could be causing this high count? I seem to recollect some discussion on this some time.
Thanks
John

Hi John,

First of all, I am not a physician and do not play one on TV (or even stayed at a Holiday Inn Express!!).

I do not remember any published links between KD and liver disease and I do not think such a link is listed in the various medical sites dealing with KD. I do remember that in the dutasteride trial, any indication of liver disease was cause for exclusion and that a large majority of men who applied for the trial did NOT have indications of liver problems.

As one should always recommend, talk to your doctor about this and hopefully your doctor will be able to research this.

Good Luck.

Ed

Hello John,

There was a posting about this elsewhere on the forum. Use the search function on the forum and search on "CPK" which is the name of one of the enzymes.

Bottom line is, for men with SBMA, it is quite common for creatine kinase (abbreviated CK or CPK) to be much higher than the upper limit of normal range; one to four times the upper limit of normal is often found. Also the enzymes Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT) and Aspartate Aminotransferase (AST) are often a bit higher than the upper limit of normal range.

Bruce did a great job explaining it in his blog at this link.

You didn't mention whether it was your creatine kinase number that was high. Was that it?

Dan/Ed - thank you for your replies. The enzyme which is high is ALT/SGPT and my reading was 125u/L. Looking it up on the Internet the normal range is 7-56. On one of the Web sites it says the ALT can be raised with muscle damage along with a list of liver conditions. The Doctor wants to do a liver ultrasound. I expect it is high because of KD but I think the only thing they can do is rule out other potential problems such as liver problems.
John

Same here. Primary Dr. Ordered the ultra sound, came back fine. Primary Dr. and Neurologist both concur increase is due to muscle damage. Every three months it is tested and the number remains stable.