ALP is an enzyme found in the blood that helps break down proteins.
What Is Alkaline Phosphatase?
Alkaline phosphatase is an enzyme.
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ALP is also secreted from theplacentaduring pregnancy.
Certain diseases or conditions can impair ALP synthesis and lead to a drop in blood concentration.
What Causes Low Alkaline Phosphatase?
Low ALP is less common than high levels.
Other conditions will cause very different symptoms.
Your healthcare provider may order an ALP test as a part of a routine checkup.
They may also order the test to help diagnose a suspected disease.
Many drugs can interfere with ALP test results.
Do not discontinue any medications unless your healthcare provider tells you to.
What Happens During the Test?
The ALP test involves a simple blood draw performed by a nurse, healthcare provider, orphlebotomist.
The blood will be placed in a vial and sent to a laboratory for analysis.
The blood draw typically takes less than five minutes.
You may feel a prick or sting when the needle is inserted.
Like other blood tests, there is very little risk in having an alkaline phosphatase level test.
You may experience mild pain and bruising where the blood was drawn.
What Do the Results Mean?
Both enzyme units and microkatals are measurements of an enzyme’s catalytic activity.
The normal range of values of ALP differs by age and pregnancy status.
ALP values that fall outside these reference ranges are considered abnormal.
In adults, the normal range of alkaline phosphatase is 33 to 96 U/L.
What is considered “normal” may vary from laboratory to laboratory.
How Low Alkaline Phosphatase Is Treated
The treatment for low ALP depends on the underlying cause.
If sparked by celiac disease, switching to agluten-free dietwill help.
Other conditions, such as aplastic anemia, may require more aggressive treatment such as a bone marrow transplant.
It is more common to have high ALP levels than low levels.
Low alkaline phosphatase levels are found with an ALP blood test.
An ALP test by itself isn’t diagnostic, however.
Treatment for low alkaline phosphatase depends on the underlying cause.
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