I was diagnosed with Hep C last month while doing yearly blood work. I saw a Hepatologist today and did blood work for Genotype, Viral count, and a half dozen others. He also scheduled an ultrasound for next week. He said he may or may not do a liver biopsy next visit depending on the test results.
The Hepatologist said, without knowing the test results, that he believed the stage would be a 1 or 2. He based this on the fact that my blood work last month showed my Platelets, Albumin, and PT (???) were all normal and that my ALT (89) and AST (75) were not high.
Does this sound like a reasonable assumption? And what is PT? I am sure the last letter was a T but I’m not sure about the P. I imagine I’ve had Hep 30 years or so.
Thanks to all, Jack
Also ..it may be your test last month was positive for the HCV antibodies only, and now he has done the more explicit HCV/RNA by PCR blood test to see if indeed you have the active infection Approx. 20% of people clear the virus by their own immune system and will always test positive for the antibodies.
The ALB,plats and PT (prothrombin Time) are all liver function tests and often if there is significant liver damage these markers would be affected so altho a biopsy is really the only true test to see liver damage it is good these are all normal.
Treatments regimes today are approx. 75 % successful and the medication you would take to treat is depending on what geno type you are and ..treatment can be from anywhere from 24 to 48 weeks depending on response.
Let us know how the tests go and welcome...
Will