hcc at mid-30s

[rosy888]

Hi everyone, I am new to this forum and glad to find many useful discussion here.
I am in my mid-30s and recently just had a liver resection due to hcc. Good thing is it's caugh in early stage...

Brief history:
-got hepB probably at birth
-ALT elevated for a few years in my 20s (in the 50~100 range; not treated that time due to no effective drug available and want to have baby first)
-ALT got back to normal in the past few years, together with lower virus DNA (decreased from 10^7 to <2000 copy); also eAg became netagive while eAb became positive)
-normal ultrasound findings (monitor every 6 month) in the past few years

However, a few months ago, a tumor was found caugh by AFP and comfirmed by MRI. Have been on Baraclude since then (never got treated before).

My questions are:
1. why hcc was found suddently although test results seem to suggest everything was getting better in the past few years(normal ALT, low virus load, e-seroconversion) ?
2. is  Baraclude the best option for me?
3. any other things I should consider/try to prevent re-occurance?

Any comment/suggestion would be highly appreciated!

[rosy888]

Hi StephenCastlecrag, thank you so much for your comment!

Yes it's true that, although it's less common, HCC can develop without fibrosis/cirrhosis - myself is an example.  

Frequent monitoring is really important, and I hope you all could learn from my experience.... I am now trying whatever might help hoping to prevent the reoccurance.

[Rome70]

Thanks for sharing the info. Will do AFP test every 3 month from now.

As for the HbsAg test -- yes, this is what I heard, unfortunately it is not available in the US. But people send samples abroad for testing.
Some people think that it is a conspiracy of pharmaceutical companies to sell the NUCs because HbsAg quant test is used to monitor interferon treatment...

[rosy888]

Yes I will have AFP every 3 month from now...

"As for the HbsAg test -- yes, this is what I heard, unfortunately it is not available in the US. But people send samples abroad for testing."

Do you happen to know how/where to send samples abroad for testing?

Thanks

[Flameboy]

sorry to hear about your hcc. what was your afp level? mine is always high and i have had to have mri but was clear. i will take another soon. i hope you will not have to go through that again.

[rosy888]

Thanks Flameboy.

The highest afp before surgery was in the 200 range.

How high is your afp? and how often do you check it? Hope you will be fine since mri was clear.  But still worthy to keep a close eye on it since I heard that aft could be elevated a few months before a mass can be detected by imaging...

Best wishes to you.

[Rome70]

I can not remember exactly where, please search the posts here. It was a lab in Holand and another one in India.
I can recomend a French lab http://www.lab-cerba.com I was tested there but not by post they do good hbsag quantitive test.  it is a big lab and they seem to accept samples by post, because they have international dept, they also have english speaking staff, and even answer e-mails.
I remember that Fedex can send frozen blood samples from the US, at least it was mentioned here.
If you succede in using this please do let us know, I think many would be interested.