What kind of Alk Phos numbers suggest bone mets?

[Tommyj2]

Are numbers markedly elevated when there are bone mets or just higher than ones " usual " ie... substantially out of range... or just elevated substantially relative to ones historical readings

[Tall_Allen]

What were they?

[Tommyj2 in reply to Tall_Allen]

Still within " normal" limits but at the top of the range for the lab...

117 UL/L up from 74 last reading... Thought I read that Bone Met readings are well higher than this....

[LearnAll]

Alk Phos is an enzyme which basically indicates the degree of activity of bone formation and bone destruction...in other words, high Alk Phos tells us that bone is being destroyed and being formed at greater rate (osteoblastic activity is high)

In a healthy person, there is always some degree of this process of bone formation and bone destruction goes on resulting in small amount of Alk Phos ( upto 117 ) so upto this number it is considered Normal wear and tear.

There are two parts of Alk Phos number..first the bone part and second is the liver part.

If your liver enzymes viz. ALT,AST and bilirubin are in normal range, this indirectly tells us that the higher Alk Phos levels are mainly coming from the bone. In case of doubt, you can ask the lab to separately provide you bone Alk Phos and Liver Alk Phos numbers.

Alk phos number should be read in conjuction with serum calcium number...if serum calcium is also high then, it means the bone destruction is happening more than what is normal wear and tear..as excessive calcium which is being released from bone destruction is showing up as high serum calcium level....so read Alk Phos , Liver enzyme numbers and serum calcium number all together in order to make a correct judgement about bone situation.

One needs to worry only when there is Alk Phos number trending up or going higher than 117. Just repeat and watch the trend every 2 to 3 weeks.

[Tommyj2 in reply to LearnAll]

Very good information and explanation..... thank you for enlightening me.... I'll check these other values as well..

[JuanVV in reply to LearnAll]

My husband has his at Alk Phos 1102 , but he hasn't had a serum calcium test before? His prostatic acid phosphatase is 14.20, I guess that means that he has bone mets definitely?

[LearnAll in reply to JuanVV]

We can not jump to conclusion about mets with certainty unless we have cross checked all the factors.

Active mets create a high Alk Phospahatage number , a high serum calcium level,

pain and stiffness in body. But if liver is damaged as shown by high ALT ,AST and Bilirubin numbers, the Alk Phosp number is less predictor of mets as Alk Phos might be being generated by injured Liver. Scans can show how intense the mets are by how brilliant they light up and how big the size is.

Therefore, I would not conclude there are active mets "definitely" as long as I have checked and matched all these different lab values and then, take into account his symptoms (how he feels, how much pain is there etc.

[Tommyj2 in reply to LearnAll]

Thank you for the educational reply...... I was not actually writing this inquiry because I believed that I was metastatic... it was an educational inquiry for the future as my alk phos numbers are rising.... but , as I expected, not nearly enough to be concerned at this point..... Learned a lot through the responses.... thank you!

[JuanVV in reply to LearnAll]

Thanks really helpful!

[j-o-h-n in reply to LearnAll]

Are you a doctor or do you LearnAll?

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Thursday 08/08/2019 6:40 PM DST

[LearnAll in reply to j-o-h-n]

That is a secret....to be kept secret...I am just a member of this amazing forum...

[j-o-h-n in reply to LearnAll]

Ok mum's the word......

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Thursday 08/08/2019 7:01 PM DST

[larry_dammit]

Mine was 900 when They decided to get me my scans. Stage 4 then

[monte1111]

I had a 26 point spike one month. After 2 months It has almost gone back down to what it was. Not a clue, but glad to see it going back down.

[Tommyj2 in reply to monte1111]

Had some good responses to this question that put things in more perspective.... if you followed any of the thread you already know that Alk Phos is hard to interpret without taking into account Calcium levels and other liver enzymes..... Seems that mets to bone produces Alk phos levels pretty much in excess of the lab norms..