stick figure layout for LFTs??

[MedGeek]

hi everyone...

i'm sure you are all familiar with:

      Hgb
WBC  >---< Plt
       Hct

As well as the BMP

___|___|___/
   |   |   \

I've heard of one for LFTs that goes like

|____|____|____|
|    |    |    |

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Jeff

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[deleted87716]

The one I've seen looks like this:

Ca   |  TP   |  AST  |  LDH  /
-----------------------------  Bili
PO4  | Alb   |  ALT  |  AP   \

It's less-commonly used than the others, though, so a lot of people may have trouble interpreting it if you use it in your notes.

 

[butterfly0660]

The one I use for LFTs is

AST | Alk Phos | Total Protein
--------------------------------
ALT | Total bili | Albumin

 

[Bevo]

The one I use for LFTs is

AST | Alk Phos | Total Protein
--------------------------------
ALT | Total bili | Albumin

never seen those. Its not included in maxells is it?

 

[Bobblehead]

It's completely institution dependent. If everyone in your institution uses a set pattern for LFTs by all means make your life easier and use it. On the other hand, trying to get others to understand your figure isn't going to fly. No one's going to want to bother because there is no standard and all you'll do is irritate people.

 

[Dr JPH]

This was recently discussed. Try a search and you should find it.

Here is basically my opinion, which I also posted there.

The CBC and BMP diagrams are commonly used and easily interpreted by 99% of people who read them.

I would avoid using any other "trees" for LFTs only because they are not as commonly used and could possibly lead to confusion. (which is AST vs ALT, DBili vs TBili, etc)

The CBC and BMP are good to have in short hand format because these are the labs that we look at quickly and need to (occassionally) make quick decisions about. Its not as often we need to initiate quick intervention for a low albumin, but a low potassium or Hgb is different.

 

[tr]

I like this one: Turn the CBC tree on its head, with the Y at the bottom.

Then fill in:

total protein | albumin

total bili | direct bili

AST | ALT
/ AP \

 

[MedGeek]

I am surprised that there are so many variations. Has anyone ever seen one in print?

No maxwell's doesn't have an LFT one and it tweaks the bmp one in a way I've never seen used

I am doing a research project on visual diplay of lab data and am hoping a certain way floats to the top. I'm not holding my breath, however.

 

[enanareina]

I like this one: Turn the CBC tree on its head, with the Y at the bottom.

Then fill in:

total protein | albumin

total bili | direct bili

AST | ALT
/ AP \

This is the one my institution uses, at least on surgery for all the lap chole patients.

 

[velo]

with so many variations floating around I wouldn't use an LFT tree unless there was a single version in wide circulation at my particular institution. It doesn't save anyone anytime to look at a tree and try to guess which number is which and it can lead to dangerous misunderstandings.

I just write out AST/ALT: x/y AlkPhos: z etc etc etc....really doesn't take that much more time...

 

[carrigallen]

I like this one: Turn the CBC tree on its head, with the Y at the bottom.

Then fill in:

total protein | albumin

total bili | direct bili

AST | ALT
/ AP \

That's the one we use - if someone else can't understand it then no big deal because they can always look in the computer. It's not particularly important to know whether ALT or AST except for a few conditions.