Alkaline phosphatase test

An enzyme that comes from the liver and from bone.

€3.93. You pay at the desk, not online.

Alkaline phosphatase test: what it is for

Alkaline phosphatase, often ALP on your report, is a protein made mainly by your liver and your bones. Its level in your blood helps show whether bile is flowing well and how fast your bones are renewing. On its own, though, it does not say which of the two it comes from: that is why it is read with GGT.

Why it is done

In the liver, alkaline phosphatase sits in the bile ducts, the small channels that carry bile to the gut. If bile does not flow well, the number rises.

In bone, it is made by the cells that build new bone. When bone renews faster, for example while you grow or after a fracture, it rises too.

How the alkaline phosphatase test is done

It is a blood test, done at a Bianalisi lab without a prescription. You can add other tests to the same draw.

Questions about the alkaline phosphatase test.

Do I need to fast for an alkaline phosphatase test? It is better. After a fatty meal the number can rise for a few hours, and other tests in the same draw need fasting anyway. You can drink water.

How much does the alkaline phosphatase test cost? €3.93, from Bianalisi’s private list for Lombardy. You pay at the desk on the day of the draw, not online.

Do I need a prescription for the alkaline phosphatase test? No. You book it here without a prescription and pay at the Bianalisi desk.

When do results arrive? Within 10 working days, in the Rosa app, with each value next to the lab’s interval. The report a doctor approves is in the Rosa membership.