any lab with abbott architect in pakistan

[gravity158]

Dear all,
Can anybody please name me a lab in Pakistan where I can get my hbsag quant iu/ml done for medication as well as information regarding response to medication. I tried to search that in famous labs here in pakistan like chughtai's ,and agha khan but they are only providing qualitative results and not quantitative in iu/ml. Please help

[stef2011]

refer to pubmed or better scientific websites or journals, that is not a scientific website just reporting news but not very updated
that is one decade old stuff, correct but all for oxidative stress on the liver and  not for any immune effect on hbv

the lowering of oxidative stress might have a partial effect on some immune cells but making no different on the specific immune suppression hbsag has

[Ashi2010]

Dear steff,
I read below mentioned protocol but they are not recommending Vitamin D but they are recommending VIt C and E what could be the reason


http://www.lef.org/protocols/infections/hepatitis_b_08.htm#nutritional

[stef2011]

change doctor because extremely ignorant and not updated, he doesn t know hbv and how to cure it

find a real liver specialist, updated in the sequential treatment by pegintf add on during long term nucs or just buy pegintf and take it while an expert liver specialist monitor therapy.with your low hbsag you may clear hbsag in less than 24 weeks by boosting pegintf by vit d serum levels around 90ng/ml and simvastatin, see otan post and results

[aamir70]

Dear stef,
I have hbsag quantity 384.76 iu / ml and in hbv dna qualitative by pcr method.it is not detectable. Doctor says me u cant add peginterferon with tenefovir. You first lower hbv quantitative by entecavir and tenofovir.  Plz advice and suggest me.
Regards
Aamir

[gravity158]

Yes you are right i also learned a lot from posters here and from the posts of stef11. before coming to know about this website the world seemed to become black at once for me. but here i learned a lot about living with Hepb.

[wishful01]

" Did all relevant blood tests, U/sound and Fobroscan (avl at Dow Hospital Khi).."

Sorry, that is Fibroscan.

[wishful01]

It is interesting your doc gave you a precise figure (9%) as probability to clear hbv.

As for me, I am also hbe-. I had symptoms in 1998, and got diagnosed hbsag+. After some tests, doc gave me 6 months of Lamivudine, and i became hbvdna undetected. Stopped Lam.
I almost forgot about it till 2010 when i had to go abroad, found that hbsag still positive, hbe negative and hbvdna negative too. (Was allowed to go abroad).
In mid-2012, again checked hbvdna: was 25,800 copies/ml (units are imp). Did all relevant blood tests, U/sound and Fobroscan (avl at Dow Hospital Khi). It turned out my liver function/condition seemed okay. So I was not prescribed treatment.

I learnt a lot abt hbv from Stefano (stef2011) and other kind and knowledgeable posters here. There is a lot to learn abt hbv. 'Knowledge is power' is very valid for hbvers. Wish you the best.

[stef2011]

at 1000-1500iu/ml response of sequential treatment was 90% with 50% hbsag cleared by 48weeks

[stef2011]

you re about my hbsag levels, mine up and down from 4000 to 7400iu/ml, you may start tenofovir and try lower it to around 1500-3500iu/ml by few years, on this lower level pegintf add on may work to clear hbsag

[gravity158]

Hbeag -ve. Alt 21. Doctor says I've only 9% chances that i'd clear the virus through medication. What's  ur status?

[wishful01]

HBeAg status?
LFTs?

[gravity158]

My result was 6400 iu/ml approx

[wishful01]

I would try to confirm whether Agha Khan Univ. Hospital (AKUH) has got this test or not, because last I checked 4-5 months back and they were not doing it. I live in Karachi myself.

Anyways, this is good news for HBvers living in/around this mega city of 20 million+, and indeed for many others living in other cities, because AKUH has collection points in all major cities of Pak. (Lets hope SKMT follows suit). Also someone just told me that the chughtais take blood samples from Khi also. I have to confirm that too. Will update on that soon, IA.

[wishful01]

I am not an expert at the test; got it done only once.
If I understand Stefano correctly here, he is saying that this test is done quite simply (quickly) on the architect machine, if that machine is available.

However, the reason why someone at Chughtai told you the test was not available with them still remains a mystery! :)

BTW, what result did you get?

[stef2011]

it is a stupid test same as qualitative, just different kit used on the architect machine.i get it same day by the end of the morning

[gravity158]

Hey all,
Yes I found this at chughtais and got my test done. They even gave me the reports. But am confused as how come they did it so fast is it possible?

[hbv]

Agha Khan Lab also setup Quantitative Test for HBSAG recently in Karachi you may re-confirm at Lahore.

[stef2011]

The numerical value of the patient’s result represents viral load and can be used to monitor therapy for hepatitis B.(this is the sentence for hbvdna pcr test)

the correct sentence to avoid confusion with hbvdna pcr is:
The numerical value of the patient’s result represents surface antigen quantity and can be used to monitor response to therapy for hepatitis B and predict hbv clearance.

[wishful01]

Thanks.
Let this member's (and now mine also) confusion be settled, and I'd try to inform all members from Pakistan about any useful info that comes out.

[wishful01]

For sure it was. My result was about 2670 iu/ml.

I am still wondering what all this is about, especially the HoD not knowing part. But you should know that there are more than one HoDs there, ie Microbiology, Virology, pathology etc etc. So maybe the one who you talked to, unfortunately could not guide you correctly.

Anyways, it is possible that at Chughtais, they performed the Elisa test on you. That is a much more common test and most labs do it to check HBsAg positive or negative. It costs less. The HBsAg Quantitative test cost me Rs 4500/- and I got the result after 1-2 days.

Anyways, I'd again strongly suggest that you GO TO these guys again, and have them call their Isbd Zone Manager to settle this. I am very interested, rather eager to hear from you.

[gravity158]

Thanks for letting me know in detail. I actually belong to Lahore and met HOD here. I got my hbsag qualitative done on the same machine and it was with the same disclaimer as u mentioned above but it didnot give me the values in iu/ml as required. rather i had this test done from shaukat khanam as well and that had completely different values upon inquiring from doctor it was revealed that it is a qualitative test and it just shows that patient's rate is above, below or on border line comparative to cut off value. Can you lemme know if your test was interpreted in iu/ml??

[stef2011]

Abbot Architect Ci8200 can do hbsag quantitative and qualitative and the method is Chemiluminescent technology, also range is correct <0.05 IU/ml

The numerical value of the patient’s result represents viral load and can be used to monitor therapy for hepatitis B.

thisis totally wrong but we ave seen how most doctors and lab tech are ignorant, they just state wrong things but the test is correct as long as the number is followed by iu/ml

[wishful01]

Here is what at the end of my report says:

HBsAg Quantitative Test is reliable method for the detection of HBsAg. At Chughtais Lahore Lab, this test is performed on the fully automated and integrated Abbot Architect Ci8200 system utilizing
Chemiluminescent technology. The assay has a sensitivity of <0.05 IU/ml. The numerical value of the patient’s result represents viral load and can be used to monitor therapy for hepatitis B.

[wishful01]

Please ask the HoD about Mr Faroor Hussain: by the way, I had called him through his cell phone numbers above, and these are the same number also given in Chughtai Lab's website. Something is not making sense here. Why is the statement of the Zone manager not matching with the HoD's??