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Discussion on Tests for liver disease
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Member:
Shansew
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Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2003 - 8:02 am:
I have a 13year old Saddlebred mare who has had elevated GGT and alk phos (among other things) for over a year. I was reading in a liver disorders book (for humans) about a disease called Primary Biliary Cirrhosis. If my mare were a human...I would think she might have PBS. It is rare in humans (150 out of ever million) and I am sure even more rare in horses. I read that people with this disease will have antimitochondrial antibodies and an elevated IgM concentration in 90% of the cases. Do you know of a lab where I can have these tests performed on a horse?
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Thursday, Jun 12, 2003 - 9:08 am:
Hello Shannon,
Sorry for the delay in response, I replied when you first posted but apparently it did not go through.
I do not know of any labs that perform equine antimitochondrial antibodies. But I am not sure that is your next best step. You are looking at this backwards, though 90% will have these features when this disease is present, this does not mean that 90% of the horses with this problem has this disease.
The problem is that GGT elevates in most acute liver conditions and in response to some medications so the elevation very likely is due to other conditions. Most good labs can give you the IgM fraction of the immunoglobulins but again this is in no way a primary indication of PBC. When you find both of these elevated you still do not have a diagnosis: a diagnosis of a specific liver disease would be best based on history, ultrasound, and biopsy.
DrO
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