Acute fatty liver in pregnancy – a rare but serious condition which can occur in the last three months of pregnancy, causing rapid liver and kidney failure. Hospitalisation and immediate delivery of the baby is usually required.
ALT – alanine aminotransferase, a liver enzyme that enters the blood following liver damage. An ALT test is used to monitor and assess the degree of liver damage in patients with hepatitis of any cause including, for example, toxins and viruses.
AST – aspartate aminotransferase, a liver enzyme but less specific to the liver than ALT (see above). A raised AST level may also indicate muscle damage elsewhere in the body.
Cholestasis – a condition where the flow of bile from the liver is reduced.
Enzyme – a substance, usually a protein, produced by the body to help speed up a chemical reaction (which can be measured with liver function tests).
Fetal – relating to the unborn baby.
Gallstones – stones formed from bile that solidifies and hardens. Most gallstones are now known to be cholesterol gallstones, formed when the liver secretes bile that is abnormally saturated with cholesterol. Other stones can be formed from bile pigment (bilirubin). Gallstones become stored in the gallbladder or can find their way to the common bile duct.
Gene – a segment of a chromosome (or unit of DNA) that carries the instructions or code for making a specific protein or set of proteins responsible for, or contributing to, a specific physical trait or action.
GGT – gamma-glutamyl transferase, a liver enzyme in your blood that is measured to check for liver damage.
HELLP syndrome – hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes and low platelets, a group of symptoms that occur in pregnant women who have pre-eclampsia or eclampsia.
Hepatic – anything relating to the liver.
Hepatocyte – a liver cell.
Inferior vena cava – the large vein that carries blood back to the heart from the lower part of the body.
Intrahepatic – within the liver.
Jaundice – a condition in which the whites of the eyes go yellow and in more severe cases the skin also turns yellow. This is caused by accumulation in the blood of bilirubin, a yellow pigment and a waste product normally disposed of by the liver in bile.
Mutation – an occurrence where a gene undergoes a change or variation in the base sequence of its DNA. Some mutations result in the gene no longer coding for the correct protein, or producing a reduced amount of the protein.
Pre-eclampsia – a condition in which a woman develops high blood pressure, excessive fluid retention and sometimes protein in her urine.
Serum – normally clear or yellowish, serum is the liquid that separates from blood when clotting occurs. Many chemical tests are carried out using serum.