At a glance
| Analyte | Alkaline phosphatase |
|---|---|
| Also called | Alkaline phosphatase, Alk phos |
| Method | Kinetic colorimetric |
| Sample type | Serum, Plasma |
| Panel | Hepatic |
| Discipline | Clinical chemistry |
| Brand | Mindray |
What ALP measures
Alkaline phosphatase answers a different question from the transaminases. Where ALT and AST report that liver cells are being damaged, ALP rises when bile flow is obstructed, so a liver panel in which ALP is disproportionately raised points toward the biliary tree rather than the liver parenchyma. The complication, and the reason results need context, is that the enzyme also comes from bone, placenta and intestine. A raised ALP in a growing adolescent or a pregnant patient is frequently physiological rather than pathological, and in an older patient it may reflect bone disease with a perfectly healthy liver. Laboratories therefore read it alongside the transaminases and the bilirubins rather than in isolation.
How Philippine laboratories run it
ALP appears in the standard liver panel most Philippine laboratories offer, and separately in bone and renal workups where it is followed alongside calcium and phosphorus. That dual role gives it a steadier month-to-month demand than the transaminases, which spike with corporate physical examination season, so laboratories running both patterns should not simply scale ALP consumption from SGPT volume. It is also one of the assays where a paediatric population changes the picture: laboratories serving children see raised values routinely, and the reference intervals used to interpret them are the reporting laboratory’s own.
Analyzers it runs on
Calibrator, controls and companion tests
Delivered with its calibrator, both control levels and the rest of the hepatic panel, on the same schedule as ALP.
Storage and handling
Refrigerated and kept closed when off the analyzer.
Buying ALP in the Philippines
ALP is supplied for the BS-600M, BS-430, BS-360E, BS-240Pro, BS-230 and BA-88A. We deliver it with Multi-Sera Calibrator and Chemistry Control Level 1, because a run held up waiting on a separate order costs the same shift a stock-out does. Delivery is scheduled against your monthly ALP count, so the bench is not rationing tests in the last week of the month. How we plan clinical chemistry supply.
Questions about ALP
Why is ALP raised in patients with no liver problem?
Because bone produces the enzyme as well. Growing adolescents, pregnant patients and people with bone disease can all show a raised alkaline phosphatase while the liver is entirely normal. That is why it is interpreted alongside the transaminases and bilirubin rather than on its own, and why an isolated ALP elevation usually prompts a look at calcium and phosphorus rather than more liver testing.
Order ALP
Tell us your monthly ALP volume and we will quote a supply schedule for BS-600M. We reply within one business day.
Request a quotation