Hepatitis C is one of the mostcommon liver diseases in humans. 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 quite commondisease. 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 andsharp. 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 at an early agestages, it is necessary to pass an analysis 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 testsare 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, we will talk more about each method.
When to do
But first you need to understand in which casesit will be necessary to make an analysis for hepatitis C. The interpretation 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 donors / 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 correctlyprepare. 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 a few days beforecollecting biological material to give up fatty and fried foods and bad habits. It will be necessary to bring the first morning urine to the laboratory. It is the most informative. No more preparation for research is available.
General analyzes
Now a little about each type of analysis and itsdecoding. 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 blood and urine tests. 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. With hepatitis C, the following changes are observed (mainly in the blood test):
- decreases such components as hemoglobin, leukocytes 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?Deciphering 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;
- albumin are reduced;
- gamma globulins are increased;
- triglycerides in the blood increase.
This will change the biochemical analysisblood in hepatitis C. The interpretation of this 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 a particular component?
Norms of substances in the biochemistry of blood
In general, the situation is mixed.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 isconducting 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 lowest concentration. The exact result can be obtained after 5 days from the date of the alleged infection.
A little bit 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 a vein, the disease is in the active phase.
A feature of the PCR diagnostic is that itcan be both qualitative and quantitative. There is no significant difference in this. Decoding the 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 will be positive. Otherwise, it will be negative.
About quantitative PCR
Now a little about quantitative analysis of PCR onHepatitis C. The thing is that this option is chosen after the discovery of disease cells in the blood. It helps to establish the extent of the development of the disease. A great way to choose the right treatment.
Hepatitis C virus found? Quantitative analysis, the decoding of which will be given below, shows the degree of viral load on the body. She may be tall and not very.
So, if the qualitative PCR analysis is positive, it is recommended to give preference to quantitative. It will help to understand how to properly treat a person.
The decoding of the analysis will be impliedthe amount of HVC RNA contained in the blood. If the results showed 400,000 IU / l, then this result can be considered average. Accordingly, readings below the specified minimum is a low viral load. And with the value of quantitative analysis on hepatitis C above 800,000 IU / l, it is assumed a strong load of the disease on the body.
Immunological diagnosis
In addition, antibodies to hepatitis C can be identified. Deciphering the analysis is reduced to indicating the antibodies not only to all types of the disease under study, but also to hepatic antigens.
This diagnostic option can be carried out as inas a normal study, and through the rapid test. For the latter, both blood and saliva are used. 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 rapid tests is that they are allowed to perform at home.
Usually the transcript of the study is reduced toindication of the presence / absence of antibodies to the studied disease. If there is a positive result, they are in the body. Otherwise, it is impossible to speak about the presence of antibodies to hepatitis and liver cells.
Conclusions and conclusions
Now I understand how to prepare for a particular diagnosis, as well as how to decipher the results of the research. In fact, everything is much easier than it seems.
The simplest solution if there is a studythe disease is a blood test for hepatitis C. Explanation of PCR diagnostics (the most informative method) is reduced to determining the presence / absence of the virus, as well as to determine its load on the body. There is nothing difficult about it.
As a rule, all listed diagnostic methodsmay be false positive or false negative. Therefore, it is recommended to take several different tests for suspected hepatitis. Only in this way will 100% be able to confirm the results.
In practice, incorrect diagnostic resultsnot very common. Usually they occur when the procedure for taking a biomaterial is violated for further investigation. For example, when contaminated with urine or blood. If there is heparin in the blood, the results may come wrong. Chemical or protein substances are a few reasons why the analysis of hepatitis C does not allow you to understand exactly whether a person is sick. For suspicious results, it is recommended to repeat the study after some time.
