bilirubin & liver

lfrjar
lfrjar Member Posts: 4
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
My sister has colon cancer with liver mets. Her liver is functioning very poorly so they have had to modify her chemo regimen as not to cause excessive damage to the good liver cells. Anyway, my question being they cannot get her bilirubin level down and aside from saying it is the cancer have not been able to determine a reason why the bilirubin will not drop although all her other liver enzyme tests have improved. Has anyone had any experience with this?

Comments

  • spongebob
    spongebob Member Posts: 2,565 Member
    #2
    lfjar -

    Has her bile duct been affected at all? Just guessing, but if her liver can't push out all of the bile it needs to due to some disease process affecting the bile duct, perhaps that's a possible reason?

    Not personal experience here, but recent experience of a friend.

    I'm no doctor and I didn't even stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night...

    - SpongeBob
  • nanuk
    nanuk Member Posts: 1,358 Member
    #3
    From a website on Liver Function Tests:
    " Bilirubin is a yellow fluid produced in the liver when worn-out red blood cells are broken down . Bilirubin can leak out from the liver into the bloodstream if the liver is damaged. When Bilirubin builds up, it can cause yellow jaundice - a yellowing of the eyes and skin, dark urine and light colored feces. The causes of abnormal billirubin levels include:
    Viral Hepatitus
    Blocked Bile ducts
    Other liver diseases
    Liver scarring (cirrhosis)

    Hope this helps in some way.. Bud
  • themis01
    themis01 Member Posts: 167
    #4
    At one point my mom's bile duct had to be opened with a stint and her bilirubin went from 16 to 2.3 in about 3 weeks.

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