having LFT's that high is not typical of HCV. ALT & AST over a 1000 indicates serious damage is being done to your liver. put the HCV aside and find out the cause of that. I would see a hepatologist (liver specilist)
good luck
Oh, okay; that helps knowing that. Grade typically refers to inflammation, while stage refers to fibrosis, or scarring of the liver.
A decent resource to refer to is Janis and Friends; I’ll try to link you to their section on interpreting biopsy results:
http://janis7hepc.com/home8.htm
If you scroll through that page, they’ll offer quite a bit of info on this subject. Be sure to bookmark their home page for future reference as well. Also, take a peek at the column on the right hand side of the page titled ‘other HCV information’; this covers most aspects of the disease in general.
If you have minimal damage, a case could be made to postpone treatment in favor of new drugs currently in late phase development; they’ll be used in conjunction with the current interferon/ribavirin to increase efficacy and perhaps reduce treatment time as well.
Welcome to the discussion group—
Bill
I got the verbal report over the phone from my GI doctor, the one that ordered the liver biopsy in the hospital. The Metavir scale gave me a Stage 1 - minimal scarring however the Knodel score was 5 - mild inflamation. I thought this was the grading. I am so confused. It does not seem too serious according to the charts. I was trying to get inforrmation on grading and staging. I will talk to the doctor when I get insurance. I am just in the beginning stages, trying to get information without paying a fortune. The results came from a GI doctor. We have not discussed the treatment for Hep C yet.
Becky
Hi Becky,
Sorry to hear of your diagnosis; it must have come as quite a surprise. The results of your liver biopsy are interesting; the scale typically used is the Metavir scale, and it stages liver disease from F0 through F4… a stage 5 report might be using the Ishak scale.
In any event, I believe it says you have significant fibrosis, or scarring of the liver. I don’t know why they wouldn’t perform the gall bladder surgery; many of us have had surgery with Hep C (HCV).
Have you discussed this with your primary care physician yet? He should refer you to either a GI doc or a hepatologist (liver doctor) for further consultation. Did anyone discuss the possibility of treatment for the Hep C?
Welcome to the discussion group, and take care—
Bill