My wife's Alphafeto protein is elevated. In October it was 21 ng/ml, and last month, December, it was 24 ng/ml; so, it went up 3 ng/ml. She will take another test at the end of February.
Her liver panel was normal, and an Ultrasound was negative; however, a fribroscan was 17.3 kPa (taken in November), which puzzled the doctor (apparently, 17.5 kPa indicates cirrhosis).
My question is, why does the AFP get elevated like this? Could the AFP be picking up a microscopic tumor somewhere that does not show on the ultrasound?
Back in October, the doctor thought that HVB was causing the elevated AFP, considering her blood work indicated that she had HVB, and her body was successfully fighting it off. In December, the doctor did not say anything about the HBV.
Thank you.