Arrhythmias and liver GGT

[street-air]

I have a diagnosed exercise induced flutter and looking through my recent and past blood panels one thing always off the charts was my liver GGT levels. This I knew, from non alcoholic fatty liver (confirmed by ultrasound). I have been chipping away at it with exercise and it has slowly declined from 250 high down to 173 now (maximum normal range is like 50). Over a year.

Well the penny dropped when reading about what elevated serum GGT can do apart from be a marker for liver damage. In several studies it has been linked to cardiac issues including arrhythmias, in a straight line x axis log 2 relationship: higher the GGT the more AF events a person suffered over time. On average. A couple of other liver markers are also linked too, in U shapes (too high, or too low).

So if one is looking for afib/flutter cardiac causes it seems worth checking your liver panel. Is it all in the green? Interestingly despite cardiologist, stress test, holter logs, electro cardiologist, ablation appointment (cancelled), none of them face to face asked after my liver levels although I did mention minor fatty liver and now controlled cholesterol. They all seemed to say triggers and causes are a mystery, we deal with the symptoms, if you want to.

Not saying that if my GGT levels decline back to normality my cardiac issue will be resolved things are rarely that simple but I will now suspect a causal link, as I had high GGT for years.

[mav7]

May I ask what your doctor has advised about the high GGT level ? Are you taking any medication for the issue ?

[street-air in reply to mav7]

doctors do not tend to investigate isolated high GGT and there are no medications that directly address it. It is considered a flag for mild liver damage so the advice is to deal with any liver issues like alcoholic fatty liver or non alcoholic fatty liver or metabolic syndrome or being overweight, or having inflammation from meds, etc etc. If its really high it can also be a sign of some nasty stuff like pancreatic cancer. The list of things associated with a high reading is pretty long but I guess most come with other symptoms too.

[mav7 in reply to street-air]

Thanks for the informative reply.

[frazeej]

My GGT (gamma glutamyl transaminase) levels have always been well within the normal range, with no apparent connection to my afib.

[street-air in reply to frazeej]

not at all suggesting it was THE cause there is no single cause of course just might be a factor for some that docs were not interested in