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A raised level of alkaline phosphatase in the blood indicates that something may be wrong, although sometimes the rise is transient and the level returns to normal after one to three months without a clinical cause being found (Lieberman and Phillips, 1990). The wide range of clinical conditions associated with raised alkaline phosphatase include liver disease, heart problems, benign bone disease, treatable malignancy, sepsis, and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome - AIDS (Price and Sammons, 1976; Payne et al, 1991; Maldonado et al, 1998).
If the alkaline phosphatase level remains high then usually it is associated with clear clinical signs. Thus a reasonable approach in this situation is for the doctor to take a careful clinical history, make a physical examination, and carry out routine laboratory studies to reach a diagnosis, followed by another measurement of the alkaline phosphatase level after one to three months (Lieberman and Phillips, 1990).
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