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When is a blood bilirubin test ordered?
A bilirubin test measures our circulating levels of bilirubin in the blood. This is useful to give hints about how the liver functions and whether or not bilirubin is being dealt with. This test can also help diagnose specific types of anemia that feature accelerated destruction of red blood cells.
Bilirubin tests are an important part of the liver panel, along with AST, ALT, alkaline phosphatase, and others. It may also be a part of a comprehensive metabolic panel for patients who are only looking for early detection of any sign of disease.
Thus, a blood bilirubin test can be ordered for diseased or healthy patients. In healthy patients, it is useful to screen for hepatic conditions and anemia. In patients with abdominal pain and other symptoms, it is helpful to rule out cholestasis. In patients with previous hepatic disease, it can provide insightful follow-up. And it can also be useful in patients with anemia to detect a variant of anemia in which the red blood cells are destroyed rapidly. This is known as hemolytic anemia.
