biopsy question

my husband has hep c. he went to the dr. last week to talk about treatment. he had a biopsy done just under two years ago. we wanted to know if things have gotten worse, so we made the apt. the dr. is saying that he needs another biopsy. why? cant blood work tell us if the disease has progressed? he was stage one then. how fast could this have progressed? he doesn't drink or anything.

[sfwandwow]

it progresses slowly what i have learn, we usually die of oldage first if we take care of ourselves.. but maybe someone else can enligten that a bit more

[jdwithhcv]

Bloodwork can detect viral load and the presence or absence of enzymes, etc., but a biopsy is needed to determine the condition of the liver tissue.  A biopsy will tell the doctor how much damage the disease has done to your husband's liver.  This is necessary information to have a meaningful discussion about whether or not to treat.

I can't really give you any information about how fast Hep C can progress except to say that I have an annual abdominal/pelvic CT scan (done for non-liver related reason), in April 2006 my liver looked fine, the April 2007 showed so much liver scarring that my doctor bustled me right off to a specialist, who found HCV.  My biopsy showed my liver in a condition that indicates I've had the virus 25-30 years.  In the space of one year I went from a clean unscarred liver to a place where we hope tx will let me avoid a transplant.

That being said, its different for everyone.  Your husband may still be at Stage I.  Good luck and let us know how the new bx comes out.
JD

[Xenigma]

Progression of liver disease is not linear.
Some can progress rapidly while others hardly progress at all.

A bx will give you the most accurate result of liver damage.

If you want to know if things have gotten worse -
a bx is the way to go, especially if he is basing his decision
to tx on progression.

Good luck to you...
enigma

[nygirl7]

It can take 20 years to progress to say stage 2 and then you can progress to stage 4 in just a few years.  That is what being "non-linear" means.  There is absolutely no pattern to it at all.

There is just no way to know at all except to keep up with biopsies if you have active chronic hepc and do not treat it and kill the virus off.