Newly diagnosed - Labs are troubling

[helpdeskguy07]

Hello everyone,

   I was just recently diagnosed in the latter part of may. I work at a medical facility in the IT dept, so i was able to get labs done pretty quickly. I had the fibrosure test. I have the 1b genotype. My fibrosis score is .72 and the stage is f3 - bridging fibrosis with many septa. Necroinflamation score is .79 with activity grade A3 - severe activity.

So with that out of the way, I got these results in the mail with very little help telling me what this actually means. Needless to say, I am scared to death. I have tried researching this on my own, but most of what i have found is rather technical. Can anyone explain what these results mean in layman terms.  I have an appt with a gastro on July 2, but that still several weeks away and I fear the worst.

Thanks in advance

[Lynn K]

Hi help and welcome

So yes a score of F3 is not optimal but know that curing your hep c will go a long way in improving your situation. Even those with F4 (cirrhosis) can have an improvement in fibrosis scores post hep C cure.

Also I have been living with F4 cirrhosis since Jan 2008 diagnosed by liver biopsy. My hep c was cured in May 2015. I haven’t seen any improvement since I had cirrhosis for a while before I was cured but I am not getting any worse which is great news to me. I live a normal life still working at 60 years old.

My suggestion is if you drink alcohol stop immediately. Also be cautious with all medications you may take including OTC meds until you can speak with your doctor.

Let us know if you have any other questions and we will do our best to help.

Lynn

[Mugwump]

Above all don't let the natural fears chronic HCV infection create become a daily part of your life.

Your treatment options are great and the most important readings are the full liver panel tests. ALT AST Bilirubin levels are the most telling and if they spike they indicate a rapid deterioration of the liver. These readings are the ones to pay attention to as you are treated. If your liver panel test are not highly elevated then most likely your infection will take a long time to progress to cirrhosis.

Before the advent of DAA treatments, for those of us who did not clear with the old treatments the standard was to test for the liver function every 3 months if the readings were elevated but only test every 6 months if the readings were not showing signs of change. 

It took me over ten years to go from f3 determined by biopsy to f4 cirrhosis. This is quite often the case. Many people do not progress to cirrhosis even after a lifetime with HCV. My first interferon treatment was in 2003-04 at which time a pre treatment biopsy done in 2001 indicated mild f3. It took till 2013 for my liver panel to start to indicate that HCV had progressed to cirrhosis.

All my best.

eric
 

[helpdeskguy07]

Thanks to the both of you that responded. Your info was very helpful and helped calm some of my fears. I will just wait for my appt with the gastro to see what they recommend. I pray that my insurance approves the treatment.

[Lynn K]

Earlier on when the meds were first approved people with little to no liver damage were in some cases having a hard time with their insurance companies.

But I haven’t heard as much about that recently and with being F3 you should have little difficulty being approved for treatment.

Best of luck let us know how it is going