An important part of an effective response to epidemic hepatitis is diagnosis and testing of hepatitis infection. This is because it paves way to treatment and prevention services. Despite the great global disease burden of advances in treatment options and chronic viral hepatitis, most hepatitis B and/or C infected persons do not know they are infected. As a result, these people can spread the infection to others and often have advanced disease.
In this article I am going to discuss different types of hepatitis diagnostic test, how I carry them out and the, tips of hepatitis tests, what test results mean for infected and uninfected people, hepatitis prevention and treatment methods.
At bigmanalab, liver specialists and specialist in infectious disease such as myself usually diagnose hepatitis A, B, and C using a simple blood tests. Inflammation of the liver is caused by these viral infections. Bigmanlab healthcare providers may recommend a liver biopsy or imaging tests to determine the full extent of liver disease, if a blood test results confirm viral hepatitis during diagnosis.
What is hepatitis?
Hepatitis is a term that defines liver inflammation. When tissues in the body become infected or injured, it results to Inflammation (swelling of the liver). This is can cause heart problems. Your liver function can be affected by this damage and inflammation. Hepatitis can be long-term (a chronic) infection or short-term (an acute) infection. Only an acute infection can be caused by some types of hepatitis. Other types of hepatitis can cause both chronic and acute infections.
What about the role of hepatitis tests?
Determining the cause of hepatitis, evaluating the liver, and detecting and diagnosing hepatitis are the main purposes of the hepatitis test:
Viral hepatitis infection screening:
Testing for disease before a person develops symptoms is referred to as screening. Two types of hepatitis viruses, hepatitis B and C are generally tested in some populations.
Diagnosis of the cause of hepatitis:
The cause of liver damage or inflammation are often determined by hepatitis tests. The test can determine if he is contagious and can pass the hepatitis virus to other people, if hepatitis is acute or chronic, and if a person has a hepatitis virus infection.
Viral hepatitis immunity assessment:
The bodies of patients become immune to future infections and develop protective antibodies after patients recover from some types of viral hepatitis, like hepatitis B, and hepatitis A. Immunity due to successful vaccination or previous infection can be determined by healthcare providers through hepatitis tests.
Hepatitis Treatment Guidelines:
The most appropriate treatment for hepatitis can be determined through hepatitis testing. Assessing a patient's treatment response and identify hepatitis complications can be achieved with hepatitis testing.
What about hepatitis risk factors?
Different hepatitis types show different risks. For instance, with most types of viruses, if you have unprotected sex, your risk become higher. Developing alcoholic hepatitis is common for heavy drinkers in the long term.
What about hepatitis diagnosis?
Physical exam:
I normally perform a physical exam to look for viral hepatitis symptoms and signs. I will examine your skin and eyes to see if anything yellow has developed due to jaundice and also gently press on your belly to see if your liver is tender or swollen. During the physical exam, I also ask you questions about your past and current health conditions, including if you have loss of appetite, muscle weakness, or increased tiredness.
Laboratory Testing:
Gastrointestinal or flu-like symptoms along with jaundice (light-colored stools or yellowing of the skin urine dark or whites of the eyes) may lead me to suspect that a patient has hepatitis. These symptoms, along with physical examination and the history, are likely to lead to ordering blood tests.
Imaging test
Your healthcare provider may recommend one or more liver imaging tests to evaluate liver damage if your blood test results confirm you have hepatitis A, B, or C.
Ultrasound:
To see if your liver is inflamed, your healthcare provider may recommend an ultrasound. Cirrhosis can be indicated when an ultrasounds shows large areas of scar tissue in the liver. It is used to create images of inner body structures, using high-frequency sound waves. A portable probe referred to as a transducer is placed on your stomach by a specialist, and the probe sends your liver images to a computer screen for analysis. This test is often done in a doctor's office and it’s a painless.
Liver function tests:
Accessing how the liver is working, is information that can be gotten from blood. Markers of liver disease caused by hepatitis, such as certain liver enzymes that help with important liver function and elevated bilirubin (a blood byproduct that causes jaundice), can be detected using a liver panels or a liver function tests. The liver normally maintains tight control over this marker enzyme. But the enzymes can leak into your blood when the liver is damaged, and can be screened in a small blood sample.
When liver damage is suspected, there are four most common enzymes that can be tested, this includes:
- GGT (Gamma glutamyl transaminase).
- ALT (Alanine aminotransaminase).
- Total bilirubin
- AST (Aspartate aminotransferase).
Liver biopsy:
Your healthcare provider may recommend a liver biopsy since imaging test results are not detailed enough to show the extent to which the liver is damaged. The degree of liver fibrosis or scarring caused by the hepatitis virus can be determine with a biopsy. Also, hepatitis treatment can sometimes be guided using the information provided by a biopsy.
To take a small sample of liver tissue, I normally numb your skin by injecting a local anesthetic and then I will pass a needle through the skin into the liver. To determine the location of the needle I often use imaging tests, including CT scan or an ultrasound. Usually the results are available within a week after sending the tissue sample for analysis in the laboratory.
Antibody test:
Specific to each virus, your immune system produces two types of antibodies. The immune system makes IgM antibodies to fight a specific virus once the body identifies it. The body produces IgG antibodies, which are equally specific for a virus but confer future immunity, towards the end of the infection. Hepatitis C (HCV), hepatitis A (HAV), and hepatitis B (HBV) virus have specific IgM and IgG antibody tests.
Getting test results:
Hepatitis can be screened, evaluated and diagnosed using many different test. To understand the patient's condition, many tests are often needed. Depending on whether the test sample must be sent for analysis to a special laboratory or the type of test being performed, we can determine the time it takes to get test results. While some tests can take several days or weeks, other test results can be obtained fairly quickly.
Through online medical record, phone calls, or during follow-up appointments hepatitis test results can be shared with patients. Contact bigmanlab for more information if you have questions about what your results mean for their health or about when to expect your test results.
What about hepatitis treatment?
Treatment of hepatitis depends whether it is chronic or acute and on the type you have. Acute viral hepatitis usually disappears on its own. You may just need to drink enough fluids and rest to feel better. But it can be more severe in some cases. You may also need to be hospitalized. There are several medications that are used to treat various forms of chronic hepatitis.
Surgery and other medical procedures are other possible treatments. Bigmanlab recommends you stop drinking if you have alcoholic hepatitis. You may need a liver transplant if your chronic hepatitis causes liver cancer or liver failure.
What about hepatitis prevention?
Depending on the type of hepatitis, there are different ways to reduce or prevent hepatitis risk. For instance, alcoholic hepatitis can be prevented by not drinking too much alcohol. Though autoimmune hepatitis can’t be prevented, vaccines exist for preventing hepatitis A and B.
Message from Bigmanlab:
Diagnosis can be difficult even if symptoms are present since hepatitis symptoms can mimic those of other diseases or can be mild. Contact us if you have symptoms especially jaundice or others that you think signify liver problems. You can be diagnosed with just a simple blood test and need treatment if you have hepatitis.
