confused liver disease patient

[SweetRosey444]

been diagnosed  with  Hep  C  and l liver  disease,, stage  3  grade 3  not  sure  what that  really means  tho....Doctors  want me to have  a  gastric  bypass  I am obese before  treatment  can be  started...My concern  is   not gonna loose   the  weright  over  night...does   this put  me in   a shorter  life expectancy with  out  TX?? Im  not  a  good  candidate for   any  surgerys    ....Was  told  I may  need  a liver transplant. is this so?

[Thomas D Schiano, MD]

stage refers to amount of scarring in the liver with stage 4 being cirrhosis so you are almost there.  gastric bypass might be indicated if you are a candidate medically as the weight loss might slow the progression of your liver disease.  it does not have to be done prior to HCV treatment.  Patients with stage 3 fibrosis might have a degree of portal hypertension that could complicate a surgical procedure so this would need to be checked.  Even if the HCV were to be cured, fatty liver could still cause you to progress onto cirrhosis.  the liver biopsy should be able to discern how much of the liver damage might be due to fatty liver.

i hope this is helpful