--- Steve Angel <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > I
find the term "LFT" as it is used at present to be
> intellectually
> unsettling. Strictly speaking, liver function tests
> ought to refer to those
> tests which are commonly used as a measure of liver
> biological function ...........-
I agree. The problem is that the term has now become
deeply ingrained in the clinical biochemistry
vocabulary, depite being inappropriate. When it was
first introduced (in the middle of the last century)
it was an appropriate term for some of the tests that
were used (e.g. galactose tolerance test, laevulose
tolerance test, hippuric acid synthesis test,
bromsuphthalein test).
I should emphasise that I'm not QUITE old enough to
claim experience of using most of these tests - I just
have a 1st edition of Varley's Practical Clinical
Biochemistry.
Stuart Robertson
Biochemistry Department
Hull Royal Infirmary
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