Hepatitis C Support Group

Hepatitis C is a blood-borne viral disease which can cause liver inflammation, fibrosis, cirrhosis and liver cancer. The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is spread by blood-to-blood contact with an infected person's blood. Many people with HCV infection have no symptoms and are unaware of the need to seek treatment. Hepatitis C infects an estimated 150-200 million people worldwide.

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What does a liver sonogram show?

Brigid13
Brigid13
I've been told conflicting things -- that it can only show cancer vs. that it can show fibrosis. Anyone know for sure?
deleted_user
deleted_user
Dont know ..good question. I do get them every 6mos to detect if my cirrhosis has gone to cancer tho. I'm sure there are other things they can see there too.
deleted_user
deleted_user
www.umm.edu/ency/article/003777.htm -
hope that came up..... it's Univ.Maryland ,
dillytime
dillytime
i had 1 in prison it shows blood flow in u're portal veins and etc...
pugdaddy
pugdaddy
a sonogram can show many things, including any acute enlargement, however it CANNOT show fibrosis - and thus cannot always show cirrhosis. any radiologist or radiology technician will confirm this for you - and in fact my radiology reports always contained that disclaimer, signed by the doctor who read and interpreted them.

in order to confirm fibrosis you need one of two things - either (a) a biopsy or (b) a Fibrosure test, a non-invasive blood test.
pugdaddy
pugdaddy
there are also some other non-invasive ways of checking for fibrosis, but these vary in their accuracy. they use various blood markers such as albumin, bilirubin, platelets, AST and ALT levels, GGT.

these are FIB4, APRI - and there are others. They're increasingly used to determine whether or not a biopsy is needed or indicated. you can Google these terms for details - hope this helps!
deleted_user
deleted_user
Well I dont know but Ive often wonderd why they do those instead of biopsy. Sure would be a lot less painful. S o be they want itometimes I think hfurt. Couse they look at us like addicts most them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmVAWKfJ4Go