Test Results - Think I'm OK

[Yellowfin]

I got my test results yesterday from the ultrasound and fibrosure.  It sonds good and my family physician seemed very optimistic. he is sending it all to a Hepatologist, but he did not see any reason for treatment or concerna t this point, even thoug my VL was very high last (19 million) time it was tested.

Here are the results...tell me wht you all think

Ultrrasound: Complete Abdomen Sonogram
  Fundings:  The liver has a normal appearance with no abnormal masses and a normal size (said other organs wer normal also)
  Conclusion:  Normal study

HCV Fibrisure Results:

Fibrosis Score                   0.26 (H)
Fibrosis Stage               F0  -  F1

Necroinflammat Act. Score   0.21  (H)
Necroinflammat Act. Stage   A0  -  A1

There was a numerous other blood test, but I think it looks good. I really don't know what it means, but the doctor was pleased, so I was too.

I was surprised seeing that I predict that I got Hep C about 35 years ago and have been a mod-heavy drinker of beer for many years.  I had expected the worse.

Of course, I still have the hep C, but may not to worry about treatment for some time.  I should have a results of the review by the hepatologist next week.

[copyman]

i have to disagree with what some have said here. your VL of 19 mil has NO correlation with how much damage you have or how fast you will progress. where it does come into play is when having a high VL it becomes harder to treat. also used to see how you are responding to treatment.  other then that VL means nothing! even though the ALT & AST usually dont mean much with extent of liver damage, having low LFT's  like yours are very positive and is probably why you have little damage. i have found the fibrosure to be very realiable on the low end so i would feel confident in your result. best of luck

[Trish77]

I guess you have to take all your factors into consideration.  You don't say how old you are (unless I missed it) and what your genotype is.  Currently, genotype 1's require 48 weeks of treatment and have a 40 - 50% chance of success.  That means the first time you treat, you might not clear and you have to do it again.  Studies seem to show that the older you are...some say as you hit 40..it becomes increasingly tougher to succeed.  As well, a high viral load is more challenging to treat successfully also.  So you start throwing all your risk factors in there for a successful outcome and you have age, viral load and genotype.  The other thing to consider is there is no rhyme or reason to how fast this will progress for you.  You could be just fine now and in five years you could deteriorate.  The reverse could also be true... in five years you could still be just fine.

I'm Stage 1, Grade 1 and I'm 47.  My ALT and AST have been normal until this latest test which they went up to 49 .. not crazy but above normal for sure.  Anyway, I decided to treat now because if I have to do this more than once, I don't want to run out of time.  I also want to be able to put it behind me as soon as I can and focus on the rest of my life to do whatever I want to do with no health issue cropping up and changing my direction.  I'm getting it out of the way now because I can mentally and physically handle it and because my work situation is amenable to it, as in if I lose the job I'm on now, I'm okay with that because it's contract.  

You need to find out what your genotype is and then you'll know how many weeks of treatment you have ahead of you, whether it's 24 or 48.  Then you need to figure out when you can fit that into your life.  It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when, in my opinion.  The decision is entirely yours, you just need to be aware of the realities so that you can make the one that's best for YOU.

Good luck.

Trish

[merryBe]

ok I think the typical word to use here is ATYPICAl...it's my new favorite word.

the reason is I've had 5 diseases go undiagnsed in 5 years due t tests being atypical.

anyones labs can indicate degrees of damage that are or aren't there.

anyne can have 5 symptoms of liver damage, and still be pronouced fine if the 2 most classic symptoms are nt there...and labs are not remarkable. they can still be in an advanced stage of disease.

if yu want a non invasive get HR tofriroscan your liver, (that means a docs rder and.or trip to LA. Otherwise, get a biopsy, your labs and fibrosure are not the only indicators and not reliable for making decicions t treat.

assuming you did stop drinking cmpletely, and had little to no damage as defined by a 3 core biopsy, you might then decided to watch your VL and hope to treat with one of the new protease inhibitors to up your chance f cure, and cut dwn your treatment time and symptoms. However, waiting at that VL is more risky.. Mine was at 1.4 mil...and I didn't want t wait....many flks have been waiting because side effects can be a problem....but treating in 5 years when one is 3 times sicker is also a problem....

remember we aren't talking here about some toe virus that will eat your toenails off or turn then brown....we are talking about a virus that turns your most vital organ into a rock....you can live without a lot of things, including toenails, and brains...but the liver isn't one of them. It's called by what it really is and does....it's the LIVER.

[working dog]

if you have cut down on the drinking you could feel lots of pains for the next 6 months...hep c and alcohol don't mix at all with most of us...2 beers a day could be real bad... many of my friends told me it would have no effect drinking only a couple beers a day..they were so worng...and after you stop drinking all the way give it 6 months to a year to feel better...you could have lots of pains when you cut down or stop drinking..lots of the pains are brought on by anxiety from being an alcoholic....denial is a drag...billy

[Forseegood]

they indicate inflammation in the blood...like the viral load, it's better to have them lower then higher, but they don't necessarily tell you with any certainty- the amount of ongoing liver damage you have...a biopsy will tell you that...and I kind of disagree with some posters here, I think the fibroscan is a good liver fibrosis indicator...according to some recent studies...

what you had isn't a scan though, it's a blood test, the fibrosure test, and there have been some bad reviews of the fibrosure, particularly in the middle ranges of liver disease....

Alts and asts, enzyme levels, can be indicators though...people without this disease that have normal enzymes can be in the teens and twenties or less (a lot of labs say that mid-forties are normal, but many hepatologists dispute that number....to have them that high is really slightly elevated)..ideally, when people get their bloodwork done, an elevation in these markers will signal a problem to the doctor, who is ideally going to give you a hepatitis test once this happens, truth of it is, they don't always signal problems with docs, who don't know what they are looking for...some docs haven't had much experience with hepatitis, etc....unfortunately.

yours aren't bad...but you can have low enzymes and lots of liver damage...conversely...you can have high enzymes and low liver damage...there's not always a rubric you can go by in these instances....that's why you need to speak to that hepatologist for further testing, advice, etc...

[Yellowfin]

Thanks.

Can anyone tell me what the AST and ALT numbers mean?