What is a Comprehensive Metabolic Panel?
A comprehensive metabolic panel or CMP is a blood test that measures 14 substances routinely present in the blood. The amount of these substances provides crucial details of your body’s chemical balance, metabolism, and functioning. Your doctor will usually recommend a CMP test to assess your body’s liver and kidney function. CMP is also called chem 14, chemistry panel, and chemistry screen.
What Does a Comprehensive Metabolic Panel Test Comprise Of?
The 14 substances measured through a comprehensive metabolic panel blood test are:
- Glucose: Raised blood glucose levels indicate diabetes
- Bilirubin: A waste product made by broken-down red blood cells. The liver plays a key role in removing bilirubin from the body.
- Creatinine: A waste product made as a normal by-product of muscle metabolism
- Alanine transferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and aspartate aminotransferase (AST): These are enzymes that are found mostly in the liver. Enzymes are substances that act as a catalyst and allow certain bodily processes to occur. Any abnormal levels of these can be a sign of a problem with the liver.
- Albumin: A protein produced by the liver that carries important substances through the body and prevents the blood from leaking outside the vessels
- Blood urea nitrogen (BUN): This substance measures urea nitrogen, a type of waste product in the blood
- Bicarbonate: An electrolyte present in the blood that indicates the level of carbon dioxide in the blood
- Chloride: A critical electrolyte that participates in several body functions with potassium, bicarbonate, and sodium
- Calcium: A vital mineral in the body present predominantly in muscles, teeth, and bones
- Potassium: A crucial mineral found in all body tissues
- Total protein: A measurement of albumin and globulin in the blood
- Sodium: An electrolyte that maintains the body’s fluid and acid-base balance
Indications for Comprehensive Metabolic Panel
A comprehensive metabolic panel test is utilised to diagnose, screen, or monitor various body functions and processes, including:
- Kidney and liver health
- Fluid and electrolyte balance
- Blood sugar levels
- Acid-base balance
- Metabolism
- Levels of blood protein
Your physician may also recommend a comprehensive metabolic panel to monitor some health conditions, including liver or kidney disease, as well as to monitor the side effects of certain medications on your liver or kidneys.
Preparation for a Comprehensive Metabolic Panel
As the comprehensive metabolic panel test measures a wide range of parameters, including blood glucose, you are required not to eat anything for at least 10-12 hours before the test. Your physician may also evaluate your medications or any nutritional supplements you may be taking. If these medications or supplements interact with the comprehensive metabolic panel test, your physician may ask you to temporarily discontinue them.
What Happens During a Comprehensive Metabolic Panel Test?
When you arrive at the medical office or clinic for your comprehensive metabolic panel test, you will be seated in a comfortable chair. Your healthcare provider or a phlebotomist will check your arms for an easily accessible vein. This is usually in the inner part of your arm on the other side of your elbow. Once they have located a vein, they will clean the site of insertion with an antiseptic solution. A small needle is then inserted into your vein and a required sample of blood is drawn out. You may feel a slight stinging sensation when the needle goes in and out of your skin. The extracted blood sample is collected in a vial or test tube and preserved for laboratory analysis thereafter. A small bandage is placed over the insertion site. The entire process takes around five minutes or less.
What Do Comprehensive Metabolic Panel Results Mean?
The CMP lab test results vary based on several factors, such as age, gender, and medical history. The test results also vary based on the lab. In general, the normal ranges of the 14 parameters in the CMP test are:
- Parameter Normal Range
- ALP 30 to 120 international units per liter (IU/L)
- Albumin 3.5 to 5.5 grams per deciliter (g/dL)
- AST 10 to 40 IU/L
- ALT 10 to 40 IU/L
- Bilirubin 0.3 to 1.0 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL)
- Bicarbonate 23 to 29 milliequivalents per liter (mEq/L)
- Calcium 8.6 to 10.2 mg/dL
- BUN 8 to 20 mg/dL
- Chloride 98 to 106 millimoles per liter (mmol/L)
- Potassium 3.5 to 5 mEq/L
- Glucose 70 to 99 mg/dL
- Total protein 5.5 to 9 g/dL
- Sodium 136 to 145 mEq/L
- Creatinine 0.7 to 1.3 mg/dL(males), 0.5 to 1.1 mg/dL (females)
If any one result or a combination of comprehensive metabolic panel results were found to be abnormal, it can indicate several different conditions.
For example:
- A high blood glucose level indicates diabetes.
- Abnormal BUN and creatinine levels indicate your kidneys may not be functioning normally.
- An abnormal range of liver enzymes indicates you may have a liver condition.
Your physician will likely order more tests to rule out or confirm a specific diagnosis.