liver

[flower123422]

I went for a sonagram yesday, she said no fibrois or cirrosis. Does that mean that I still have to go for a biopocy,
I know spelled wrong.  Before I go on the treatment. thank you

[nygirl7]

PS Ultrasound cannot tell you if you have fibrosis only cirrhosis really.  What it is looking for it to see if you have tumors and such - liver cancer. So so far you are already lucky.

[nygirl7]

I thought  because my ultrasound was fine that my liver was fine.  Well WRONG WRONG WRONG.  By the time I got it I was already at stage 3 of 4 not  good news.

The good news is that even though it sounds like it's going to hurt it's really not.  There are no nerves inside of your liver to feel pain.  it's really just like getting a needle that last for a minute just click click click and it's over. Then you go wow they were  telling the truth  and lay around and rest for 4 hours then go home.

And you'll know exactly where you stand which as you can tell is crucial.

[newleaf09]

I had a sonogram and liver was normal size, looked fine, no visible problems with the portal vein.  I think sonograms mostly give an idea of an organ's size, whether it's abnormally large or small, perhaps whether it looks hard.  The sonogram gave me the false impression that everything was just fine.  A month or so later I had the biopsy, which reported cirrhosis.  I don't want to be negative, but I also don't want you to have the same false impression that I had from the sonogram.  For me, it made the blow of the cirrhosis diagnosis much worse and very shocking.  Keep going with the testing.

The liver biopsy looks very frightening, but most people sail through it with absolutely no problems except the anxiety of facing the test.

[Bill1954]

Hi Flower,

No one should *have* to get a biopsy; but they can be a useful diagnostic tool. Good news about your ultrasound results; it looks like they ruled out any really yucky stuff. A biopsy can determine if a person has well-developed cirrhosis, as well as tumors and lesions and such.

However, only a biopsy can determine subtle differences between grades of fibrosis; an ultra sound isn’t capable of doing that.

What genotype are you? If you are a genotype 2 or 3, the success rates with treatment are so high that a biopsy night not be needed. And even if you are a genotype 1, if you’re going to treat for it anyway, a case could be made to skip biopsy as well. If you plan to delay/defer treatment, biopsy can help you determine how urgent it is to undergo interferon therapy.

What is your doctor’s position on biopsy?’

Good luck to you—

Bill