Making sense of liver enzymes, liver function tests, and hepatobiliary disorders at the reference desk.

This paper discusses concepts and terminology of some aspects of the laboratory diagnosis of liver (hepatic) disease and biliary tract disease (hepatobiliary disease) as it relates to medical reference work. Details of anatomic, biochemical, and pathologic processes are not discussed. Knowledge of the specific terminology involved in this area may help to ensure a good approach to developing prudent strategies for database searching of the medical literature and therefore is reviewed. MeSH and EMBASE thesauri terms are discussed and textword synonyms are presented that provide tools for thorough searching techniques. Commonly used medical jargon for this area is also explained. Examples of specific search strategies are illustrated.