Liver Ultrasound vs Blood Work

[Flav]

For those of you who have had orals added to your cycles, do you bother to get an ultrasound of your liver, or do you just go with blood work?

I recently got my AST and ALT blood work back, they were normal.
However, from some research, some significant liver damage (and even tumors) are not really screened for by AST and ALT, but instead by ultrasound.

Unfortunately, most serious liver damager doesnt show any symptoms early on... so I think it would benefit some of us from doing an ultra sound early on...

Opinions?

 

[dess]

ultrasound of the liver will detect cirrhosis or if you have a fatty liver. it can also be used to screen for tumors, the two of importance would be, hepatocellular carcinoma (hcc) and an adenoma. Adenomas are extremely rare, but are predisposed in steroid users (still rare). They are benign, but usually undergo resection because of their propensity to bleed. hcc is malignant, but almost always only occurs in cirrhotic livers. If you've done a couple cycles and you don't have a history of alcohol abuse (or some rare genetic dz) very unlikely your gonna have cirrhosis and therfore hcc. so not of great utility as a screening exam for some1 whos doing a couple cycles. if you have been hitting the bottle hard for years while running oral cycles, than maybe it may be of use.

 

[zepplin92]

Oral steroids do not "kill your liver" like most of the idiots on this board will claim.

Liver enzymes (transaminases AST and ALT) increased only in the 100 mg group, but the changes were not dramatic, and were not accompanied by hepatic enlargement or the development of any serious liver condition.

Source: Effects of an oral androgen on muscle and metabolism in older, community-dwelling men

After 12 weeks of taking one of the harshest orals at a dose of 100mg every day, elderly men just barely had a statistically significant change in liver enzymes. That's twice the recommended dose, for triple the recommended length of time, and it barely registered on the livers of elderly men. You can find the same thing if you search for trials done with anavar, dianabol, winstrol, etc.


And one More:

9 weeks of dianabol has no effect whatsoever on liver enzymes. None. Hepatotoxicity is not even an issue with oral steroids.

Source: Effect of methandrostenolone on blood lipids and liver function tests.

All in all, your fine with just occasional blood work just to be sure.