Analysis for hepatitis C: interpretation of the results

Hepatitis C is one of the most common liver diseases in man. Diagnose it can be timely. Accordingly, this will determine the speed and effectiveness of treatment. Further, it will be told how to correctly pass the test for hepatitis C. The decoding of these or those studies will also be offered to our attention. Which tests do you need to pass? What abnormalities can occur in a person who has hepatitis C? All this will be discussed later. In reality, everything is much more difficult than it seems.

About the disease

Hepatitis C is a fairly common disease. It appears due to infection of a person with the corresponding hepatitis virus. It is transferred mainly in the case of contaminated blood of a healthy citizen.

There are two forms of the disease - chronic and acute. Usually, in the second type of illness, the patient does not have any manifestations of the disease. Only occasionally there is an icteric skin tone, nausea, vomiting, discoloration of feces and urine, loss of appetite, increased fatigue and abdominal pain.

To accurately diagnose the disease in the early stages, it is necessary to pass the test for hepatitis C. The decoding of this study will be proposed later. First you have to find out which diagnostic methods will be used.

List of analyzes

In fact, there are a lot of them. The patient will have to pass a huge number of tests. Fortunately, almost all of them boil down to the study of venous blood. Therefore, most tests can be delivered at a time.

So, among the main methods of diagnosing hepatitis C, the following studies are distinguished:

• general blood analysis;
• general urine analysis;
• Biochemistry of blood;
• PCR;
• Detection of antibodies to HVC;
• A blood test for liver antibodies;
• Liver biopsy.

In practice, it is often the first 5 tests that are always done. But the test for liver antibodies and biopsy are extremely rare. They are often required not to confirm the diagnosis, but for proper treatment and to find the cause of the disease. Next, I'll discuss each method in more detail.

When to do

But first you need to understand when you need to do an analysis for hepatitis C. The decoding of all the results obtained should be done only by an experienced doctor. Otherwise you can make a mistake in the testimony. For some categories of citizens, such errors are not allowed.

To give an analysis for hepatitis C should:

• Pregnancy-planning couples;
• pregnant women;
• People who have suspicions (signs) for the disease;
• Organ / blood donors;
• drug addicts;
• People with HIV disease;
• Citizens who have a promiscuous sex life;
• medical workers;
• Employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The rest of people give this analysis at will. It is recommended to check your health once a year. This technique will help to diagnose the disease in time, if it appears.

About the preparation

Do you want to pass the test for hepatitis C? The interpretation of this study is actually not so difficult. But much depends on what kind of analysis will give up.

Each method of diagnosis must be properly prepared. Fortunately, the analysis for hepatitis C has no special features. If it's a blood donation, you just need to do it on an empty stomach. You will not have to eat about 8-10 hours.

When you pass urine, it is recommended that a few days before collecting biological material, give up fatty and fried foods and bad habits. It will be necessary to bring the first morning urine to the laboratory. It is she who is most informative. There are no more specifics of preparation for research.

General analyzes

Now a little about each type of analysis and its decoding. What should alert a person in this or that case? It is advisable not to engage in self-medication and self-diagnosis. As already mentioned, experienced doctors will be able to quickly determine the presence of hepatitis C in the patient. But on what grounds?

Let's start with general tests of blood and urine. As it was emphasized earlier, the color of urine varies. It's getting dark. And what other changes can be noticeable?

For this, it is necessary to study the results of the conducted studies. In hepatitis C, the following changes are observed (mainly in the blood test):

• Decreases such components as hemoglobin, white blood cells and platelets;
• Lymphocytes increase;
• There is a violation of blood coagulability;
• Increased ESR.

Also urobelin can be found in the urine. This substance indicates the presence of abnormalities in the liver. And nothing more.

Biochemistry of blood

How to detect hepatitis C markers? The analysis of the tests will help to understand whether a person has this disease. After general research, it is necessary to donate blood to biochemistry. This is an advanced method for diagnosing most diseases.

With hepatitis C, the following changes are observed:

• Liver enzymes are elevated (ALT and AST);
• The level of glutamyltranspeptidase of alkaline phosphatase increases;
• Bilirubin increases;
• Albumins are reduced;
• Gamma globulins are increased;
• Triglycerides in the blood are increasing.

This will change the biochemical analysis of blood in hepatitis C. The interpretation of such a plan really helps to judge the presence of the disease. And what are the norms of the listed substances? What limitations help to judge the increase or decrease of this or that component?

Norms of substances in the biochemistry of blood

In general, the situation is ambiguous. To date, men and women have different amounts of these components in their blood. Has the person passed the tests for hepatitis C? The decoding (norm of substances) of blood biochemistry will be as follows:

• Liver enzymes in men should be kept up to 41 IU / L, in women - up to 31 IU / L;
• The level of glutamyltranspeptidase of alkaline phosphatase does not exceed 150 IU / l;
• Yellow pigment is normal - up to 27-34 μmol / l.

It is on such norms it is necessary to be guided by man. When donating blood for biochemical analysis in private clinics, the limiting values of the norm will necessarily be indicated directly in the results.

PCR diagnostics

The next very informative test is the PCR analysis. This option offers a quantitative analysis for hepatitis C. The transcription of the study implies the search for virus cells even at their minimum concentration. The exact result can be obtained after 5 days from the date of the alleged infection.

A little about decoding. If the result of the analysis is positive, it means that hepatitis C is present in the body. At the time of blood sampling from the vein, the disease is in the active phase.

A feature of PCR diagnostics is that it can be both qualitative and quantitative. There is no significant difference in this. Decoding results will be the same. If hepatitis C is detected (qualitative analysis), deciphering the result of the study will indicate a positive reaction. That is, the test is positive. Otherwise it will be negative.

About quantitative PCR

Now a little about the quantitative analysis of PCR for hepatitis C. The thing is that this option is chosen after the detection of cells of the disease in the blood. It helps to establish the degree of development of the disease. A great way to choose the right treatment.

Hepatitis C virus found? The quantitative analysis, the decoding of which will be given below, shows the degree of viral load on the body. It can be high and not very much.

So, if qualitative PCR-analysis is positive, it is recommended to give preference to quantitative. He will help to understand how to properly treat a person.

The decoding of the assays will mean the amount of HVC RNA contained in the blood. If the results are 400 000 IU / L, then this result can be considered average. Accordingly, the reading below this minimum is a low viral load. And with the value of quantitative analysis for hepatitis C above 800 000 IU / l, a strong burden of the disease on the body is assumed.

Immunological diagnostics

In addition, antibodies to hepatitis C can be determined. The analysis is limited to indicating antibodies not only to all types of the disease being studied, but also to hepatic antigens.

Such a diagnosis can be carried out both in the form of routine research and through rapid tests. For the latter use both blood and saliva. When staining the strip in a certain color (according to the instructions), we can talk about the presence of antibodies to hepatitis C in humans. The advantage of express tests is that they are allowed to be performed at home.

Usually, the transcript of the study is limited to indicating the presence / absence of antibodies to the disease being studied. If a positive result has come, they are present in the body. Otherwise, it is impossible to talk about the presence of antibodies to hepatitis and hepatic cells.

Conclusions and conclusions

Now it is clear how to prepare for this or that diagnosis, and also how to decipher the results of the conducted studies. In fact, everything is much easier than it seems.

The simplest solution in the presence of the studied disease is the blood test for hepatitis C. The explanation of PCR diagnostics (the most informative method) is reduced to determining the presence / absence of the virus, as well as to ascertain its load on the body. There is nothing difficult in this.

As a rule, all listed methods of diagnosis can be false-positive or false-negative. Therefore, it is recommended that when testing suspected hepatitis, several different tests are performed. Only in this way will 100% confirm the results.

In practice, incorrect results of diagnosis are not very common. Usually, they arise when the procedure for sampling the biomaterial for further investigation is violated. For example, when contaminating urine or blood. If there is heparin in the blood, the results may come wrong. Chemical or protein substances are several other reasons why the analysis for hepatitis C does not allow you to accurately understand if the person is sick. If suspicious results are recommended, repeat the test after a while.