Albumin Test Price in Pakistan: Rs 455 at Marham Lab

Albumin is a protein made by your liver. MedlinePlus explains that it keeps the fluid part of your blood from leaking out of your blood vessels into other tissues, and that it also helps carry important substances around your body including hormones, vitamins and enzymes. An albumin blood test measures how much of it is in your blood. At Marham Lab it costs Rs 455, reduced from Rs 650.

MedlinePlus says an albumin blood test is used to check your general health and nutrition, and to see how well your liver and kidneys are working. It explains both routes.

That second route is why albumin also appears in a urine test. If your doctor is looking for early kidney damage, the [urine albumin to creatinine ratio](/labs/tests/urine-acr-test-price) measures albumin leaking into urine rather than what remains in the blood. They answer different questions.

MedlinePlus adds that an albumin test may be used to monitor treatment for liver or kidney conditions.

Three related items appear on Pakistani prescriptions and they are not the same line.

MedlinePlus notes an albumin test is often done as part of a group of blood tests measuring enzymes, proteins and other substances made in your liver, called [liver function tests](/labs/tests/lft-test-price) or a liver panel. It may also form part of a comprehensive metabolic panel.

Our LFT panel already contains albumin, total protein, globulins and the A/G ratio. If your doctor wrote LFT, do not book these separately as well. Book albumin on its own when a doctor has asked specifically to recheck that one value.

MedlinePlus is direct that an albumin blood test alone cannot diagnose a condition, and that your provider will usually consider it alongside other tests.

It then lists the ordinary things that move albumin without disease.

• Raise it: certain medicines including steroids, insulin and hormones
• Lower it: not having eaten for 24 to 48 hours, certain medicines including birth control pills
• Lower it: pregnancy. MedlinePlus states albumin levels are lower during pregnancy

A pregnant woman with a slightly low albumin, or someone who skipped meals before the test, has an explanation that has nothing to do with her liver.

MedlinePlus lists the possibilities.

Higher than normal albumin points in a different direction entirely. MedlinePlus states it may be a sign of dehydration, which may be caused by severe diarrhoea or other conditions. That is worth knowing in Pakistan, where a high albumin during a bout of gastroenteritis usually reflects fluid loss rather than anything wrong with the liver.

MedlinePlus notes the test is often ordered as part of a routine checkup, usually inside a liver panel or metabolic panel, and also when you have symptoms of liver or kidney disease.

Symptoms of liver disease it lists: nausea and vomiting, lack of appetite, fatigue, weakness, jaundice which turns the skin and eyes yellow, swelling or pain in the abdomen, swelling in the ankles and legs, dark coloured urine or light coloured stool, and frequent itching.

Symptoms of kidney disease it lists: swelling in the hands and feet or puffy eyelids, dry skin, itching or numbness, fatigue, increased or decreased urination, urine that is bloody or foamy, loss of appetite and weight loss, muscle cramps, nausea and vomiting, shortness of breath, sleep problems, and trouble thinking clearly.

MedlinePlus adds an important caution: with some types of kidney disease, such as chronic kidney disease, you may not have symptoms until the later stages.