The common causes of elevated transaminase are: ① liver diseases, especially various viral hepatitis, cirrhosis, liver abscess, liver tuberculosis, liver cancer, fatty liver, hepatolenticular degeneration and so on. , can cause different degrees of transaminase increase. ② Besides the liver, other organs and tissues in the body also contain this enzyme, so when myocarditis, pyelonephritis, lobar pneumonia, tuberculosis, Japanese encephalitis, polymyositis, acute septicemia, enterotyphoid fever, meningitis, malaria, cholecystitis, leptospirosis, influenza, measles, schistosomiasis, crush syndrome, etc. , transaminase in the blood can also increase; ③ Because transaminase is excreted from bile duct, transaminase can also increase if there are diseases of bile duct, gallbladder and pancreas, and the bile duct is blocked; ④ Drug-induced or toxic liver injury and drug allergy can cause the increase of transaminase, often accompanied by cholestatic jaundice and liver cell damage; ⑤ Normal pregnancy, pregnancy poisoning and acute fatty liver during pregnancy are also common reasons for the increase of transaminase. In addition, after strenuous exercise, transaminase can also increase.
Transaminase is an index reflecting liver function, which is often done during physical examination.
Professor Wang, the chief physician of the Department of Infectious Diseases of the First Hospital of Peking University, said: Transaminase is an essential "catalyst" in the process of human metabolism, which mainly exists in liver cells. Inflammation, necrosis and poisoning. Occurs in liver cells, causing liver cells to be damaged, and transaminase will be released into the blood, thus increasing serum transaminase. It is normal for transaminase levels to be between 0 and 40. If it is beyond the normal range, the doctor will recommend a second inspection to eliminate the possibility of errors caused by laboratory equipment failures and operational errors. If the level of transaminase is still high, it is mostly caused by viral hepatitis or other liver diseases. However, in order to determine whether it is viral hepatitis, other tests are needed, combined with comprehensive analysis of medical history, symptoms and signs. Even if it is confirmed to be viral hepatitis, the condition cannot be judged simply by the degree of elevation of ALT, because for severe hepatitis, ALT may decrease with the deterioration of the condition, probably because there are fewer living liver cells and less transaminase released into the blood.
High transaminase is hepatitis.
Elevated ALT can only indicate that the liver may be damaged. Besides hepatitis, many other diseases can cause the increase of transaminase. Professor Wang pointed out that there are mainly the following situations:
First of all, many tissues in the human body contain transaminase, such as myocarditis and myocardial infarction, which may increase aspartate transaminase.
Secondly, if there are biliary obstructive diseases such as gallstones, the level of transaminase in the blood may increase due to cholestasis.
In addition, for some people who don't look serious, alcoholic hepatitis may be caused by long-term alcoholism, or fatty liver caused by unreasonable diet structure, leading to high transaminase.
Fatigue may also increase transaminase.
For healthy people, the increase or decrease of transaminase level in the normal range does not mean that there is something wrong with the liver, because transaminase is very sensitive, and the level of transaminase may fluctuate when healthy people are examined at different times of the day.
In addition, the level of transaminase in healthy people may temporarily exceed the normal range. Severe exercise, overwork or eating greasy food recently may temporarily increase transaminase. If you work overtime the night before the transaminase test, sleep badly, or eat fried food for breakfast before the physical examination, the test results may be beyond the normal range. A person just ran a few laps on the playground and immediately checked his transaminase level, and the result may be higher than the normal range.
If these conditions lead to the increase of transaminase, as long as you have a good rest, you will find that the level of transaminase will return to normal after a period of time.
There is also a situation that will lead to an increase in transaminase. When you are sick, take drugs that will damage your liver, such as erythromycin, tetracycline, sleeping pills, antipyretic and analgesic drugs, birth control pills, and traditional Chinese medicines such as Pinellia ternata, Areca catechu and indigo naturalis. After stopping using these drugs, the level of transaminase will soon return to normal.