Endocrine Abstracts

Alkaline phosphatase is a widely-ordered test from the clinical laboratory. This brief clinical overview will cover the considerations an endocrinologist should make when assessing a patient referred with an incidental finding of either low or elevated alkaline phosphatase. Some discussion from a laboratory perspective will be included, with a clinic visit and the many caveats for interpretation of alkaline phosphatase in mind, as well as the patient factors to be assessed at clinical review. A practical approach to review and investigation will be outlined.