PT is relatively insensitive for detecting mild hepatocellular dysfunction. Serum Igs rise in most cases of chronic liver disease when the reticuloendothelial system is defective or bypassed by vascular shunts. The inability to clear portal venous blood of transient bacteremias from normal colonic flora results in chronic antigenic stimulation of the extrahepatic lymphoid tissue and hypergammaglobulinemia. Serum globulin levels rise slightly in acute hepatitis and more markedly in chronic active hepatitis, particularly that of the autoimmune variety. Specific proteins may be diagnostic.
None is diagnostic, and none reveals the pathogenesis of the disease process.
These include embryonic teratocarcinomas, hepatoblastomas, infrequent hepatic metastases from the GI tract, and perhaps some cholangiocarcinomas.