What Does High Bilirrubin Count Indicate?

Posted on Mon, 19 May 2014

Question: My husband has been an alcholic for years. He recently went in for a check up as his eyes and skin color are very yellow. They did a blood check and his bilirubin count was 10 times the normal. His primary care doctor referred him to a liver specialist immediately. He has an appt this week. How abnormally high is his count? Is this high count alone enough to assume he has cirr (?) of the liver and he is in stage 4?

Answered by Dr. Enrique Molina (3 hours later)

Brief Answer:
no

Detailed Answer:
normal bilirrubin count is about 1.5. If his count is 10 times higher than normal that is very high, however it does not mean he has cirrhosis.
For a diagnosis of cirrhosis he can get a liver biopsy, however this is an invasive test and usually not routinely done unless the diagnosis is not certain.
Non invasive methods include a liver ultrasound, measuring the platelets and coagulation proteins in the blood (which are usually abnormal in cirrhotics).
If he is still drinking alcohol, he should quit immediately and seek professional assistance to quit.
If he does not have cirrhosis (based on test results i mentioned above), then by stopping alcohol he can significantly recover his liver function and his bilirrubin could come back down to normal, however if he does have cirrhosis he can have lots of medical problems coming ahead.
Hopefully that helps, let me know if you have further questions.

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar