How is liver disease determined to be the cause of jaundice?
A biochemistry profile, which is a group of 10-30 tests, is performed on a blood sample from the dog with icterus. The biochemistry profile contains several tests that are specific for liver disease and some that are supportive of liver disease. The main ones are alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP or ALKP), total bilirubin. In some cases, your veterinarian will also recommend a bile acid analysis, which assesses liver function. “Biopsy of the liver is often necessary.” These blood tests will indicate that liver disease is present, but not its cause or whether it is reversible. To make that determination, a biopsy of the liver is often necessary. This can be done in three ways. 1) Fine-needle aspirate. To perform this procedure, a small gauge needle attached to a syringe is inserted through the skin into the liver, and cells are withdrawn or aspirated. The cells are placed on a glass slide, stained, and studied under a microsc
