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Biopsy

by TINA, Oct 30, 1999 12:00AM
Hello Dr.'s

First let me say thank you for being here for us!  I would like to know what you make of this situation below.  

I gave blood and was told I have Hep C antibiodies, so from there I went to see a gastro Dr. and sure enough I have antibodies to hep c, but they did the pcr test and it came back negative viral load.  They then thought I had autoimmune hep, so I had a liver biopsy and this is what it says:

step sections of the liver biopsy demoonstrate generous core fragments in which the overall architecture is maintained.  Portal areas do not show any significant inflammation.  Bile ductules appear intact, although appear to be fewer in numbers.  I do not see any cholangitis.  Withing the lobules, there is a focal suggestion of granuloma. The hepatocytes, themselves appear slightly distended with abundant granular cytoplasm.  Sinusoids have hemmorrhagic congestion.  An iron stain does not demonstrate any stainable iron.  Finding within this biopsy are minimal and nonspecific.  Would exclude the possibility of primary biliary cirrhosis, however, the location of the granuloma is not portal in this instance.  The findings are very minimal are not specific for an autoimmune type process.  Additional clinical correlation is recommended.


I am curious is this a normal liver biopsy?  I have been checked for Hep c, autoimmune hep, lupus, rhuematoid arthritis, sjogren's sydrome.  I was given the diagnosis of sjogrens, but the Dr. said it is probably hep c.  I have also been told by Dr. that if my immune system went through a weakening the hep c could become active.  I have a positive AnA of only 1:160 with nucleolar pattern.  Most of my blood work is within range.  I have symptoms of shooting pain in joints, achey (achy) muscles, fatigue, swollen hands and fingers, stiffness in the a.m. and sometimes throughout the day.  I know I have something going on in my body.  So what I really wonder is what the above biopsy is telling me. I am on Vioxx,Plaquenil, Detrol and Flexeril.  I am actually feeling better, but I still have no concrete feelings as to what is going on in my body.   So any info you could give me would be most appreciated!  I was an iv drug user in the 80's and had a tatoo at that time.  I also had my tatoo recolored about 1.5 years ago.  So Whats your thoughts on my situation?

Thank you soooooooo much for taking the time to read this and try to help me uderstand.

Sincerely,
Tina
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