Question about liver biopsy diagnosis.

[rasticle]

I don't want to waste anyone's time, but I also don't want to pay to post this. lol.  I recently got a liver biopsy and I posted about it earlier this month.  If anyone out there is a med student or understands medical jargon, can you please tell me what this mean.  The biopsy came back saying, no inflammation, no hemochromitosis, no fatty liver, no fibrosis.  The offical diagonsis says, "minimal histologic changes".  Does anyone know what that means, if anything?

Thanks!

[rasticle]

Again, sorry I'm beating a dead horse here.  Just
wondering if anyone has the medical knowledge to
explain that to me. =)

[chcnme]

<strong>Ask your doctor</strong> to explain the entire biopsy.

I'm not a doctor.  Not knowing your medical history, your diagnosis, any of your health problems, habits, lab work, results of other tests, not having read your other note, etc., and based only on the information you have given here in this note, I can only tell you that  “no inflammation, no hemaochromatosis, no fatty liver, no fibrosis” on the biopsy as the <strong>“conclusion”</strong> would indicate nothing significant was found on the liver biopsy in those areas.  

Biopsies of the liver are reserved for patients who are thought to have a disease process going on that might be damaging their liver, such as (but limited to) hepatitis or hemachromatosis, or when your liver function tests (blood labs) have come back abnormal, or when your physical exam is abnormal, or when the doc wants to rule out a pathologic (sick) liver due to any reason (known or not known.)  

Histologic basically means "cell".  The liver biopsy takes samples of the liver and looks at the cells and looks for any evidence of injury to the liver.  Biopsies can assess the overall function of your liver.

The diagnosis of “minimal histological changes” means that there is barely any evidence of any changes on this biopsy to your liver cells.  

“No inflammation” means there is no evidence on this biopsy that your liver is currently being damaged by a disease process  (diagnosed or undiagnosed) or by something toxic to it, such as alcohol / drugs.  Inflammation is a precursor to fibrosis (scarring and hardening of the liver, which is not good.)  Therefore, "no inflammation" would be a good finding.

"No hemachromatosis" means there is no evidence on this biopsy of excess iron being stored in your liver  (excess iron in the liver is called "hemachromatosis", which is a disease process that can harm your liver.)   Therefore, "no hemachromatosis"  would be a good finding.  

"No fatty liver" means there is no evidence on this biospy of fat being stored in your liver.  A “fatty liver” can occur with diseases such as obesity, hepatitis, alcoholism and can harm your liver.  Threfore, "no fatty liver" would be a good finding.

"No fibrosis" means there is no evidence on this biopsy of scarring that has occurred due to a disease process or due to toxic substances you might be ingesting.  Have you heard of "cirrhosis" before?  Cirrhosis is the worst form of fibrosis.  The diagnosis of "cirrhosis" means your liver is in bad shape and not functioning good.  Over time, fibrosis can lead to cirrhosis.  Therefore, "no fibrosis"  is a good finding.  

Based on what you've said in your note regarding this biopsy, I can only say that it <strong>looks like</strong> your liver biopsy showed nothing significant and that your liver is OK.  Ask your doctor to confirm this and to explain this liver biopsy to you in detail.  

[nitramog]

come to he hepatitis forum remember ther not docters ether post your blood work up to

[debfromoakland]

it means excellent.  If you have hep c, find out your genotype and, maybe to the tx.. I did it and I'm getting my 1 yr test this week and shd be NEG-  SVR