Can a SGOT Test Help Maintain Good Liver Health?

Your liver performs many significant functions and tasks. Being one of the largest organs, it helps in metabolising nutrients from your diet into usable substances and supplies them to your body. This helps in its optimum functioning.  It is only natural that you would not want any disruption in its working.

Since it’s an internal organ, you simply cannot know about any changes in its condition immediately. To know whether your liver is suffering from any damage or diseases liver blood tests are administered. The two most common tests for detecting liver health are sgot and sgpt.

What you need to know about an  SGOT test

Image showing a liver, Credit: pixabay

To ascertain that your liver is not at risk of any disease, liver tests like sgot and sgpt are conducted.  These tests are done to determine the level of liver enzymes, namely sgot and sgpt in your bloodstream. The full  forms stand for aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and alanine aminitransferase (ALT).

A healthy individual has low levels of SGOT in their bloodstream. If there is more than usual amount of sgot in the blood, chances are that your liver cells may be damaged.

Who needs an SGOT test?

Doctor and patient, Credit: pxfuel

If you’re experiencing the following symptoms of liver disorders you need to immediately undergo an sgot test:

1. Appetite loss

2. Exhaustion

3. Nausea

4. Swollen and painful abdominal

5. Light coloured stool and dark urine

6. Bruises and itchy skin

Additionally:

1. You have been exposed to hepatitis virus recently

2. You consume alcohol in large amounts

3. You’re genetically predisposed to liver diseases

4. You’re diabetic and overweight.

How to interpret the test results?

Test, medical test, diagnoses, Credit: Pixabay

To interpret your test results you need to know about the normal, high , and low ranges of this enzyme. The normal sgot range for men is 10-40 units per litre of liquid blood. For women, it is 9-32 units per litre of liquid blood.

ALT and AST tests are usually prescribed at the same time. High or danger level of sgpt and sgot enzymes can put you at a risk of having one or more of the following conditions:

1. Alcohol or painkiller induced liver damage

2. Severe viral hepatitis

3. Interrupted blood flow to the liver

On the other hand, a greater concentration of SGOT without SGPT can point towards the presence of the following health conditions:

1. Muscle injury

2. Kidney disease

3. Heart injury

4. Chronic pancreatitis

An indication towards a liver disease can be made by comparing sgot and sgpt tests results. You are diagnosed with a liver disease when your sgpt level is higher than sgot.

Is an SGOT test necessary?

Human internal organs, Credits: pixabay

A liver that functions at its optimum capacity is indeed very significant to our well-being. Liver function tests like sgot and sgpt are crucial to gain an understanding of its functioning. If undertaken regularly they can be an effective weapon safeguarding you against a number threatening liver disorders.