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What Does My Liver Panel Test Report Indicate?

Posted on Tue, 31 Jan 2017

Question: I have liver blood panel with current values that I would like to get impressions from a specialist. Patient has history of hepatitus B.

Answered by Dr. Muhammad Ahmad (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Liver is fine.

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

Thanks for writing to Health Care Magic, I am Dr Muhammd Ahmad, i have been in Post graduate Hepatitis facility for four years , I have closely read your question and I understand your concerns, I will hereby guide you regarding your health related problem.

I have seen the lab results you have attached, according to them the liver is perfectly fine. It does not by any way , means that Hepatitis B is negative, Hep-B might be negative or positive or inactive , this report just shows condition of the liver.

Liver is very fine and there seems to be no damage even if Hepatitis B is positive, to know if Hepatitis B is still there or dormant , Hepatitis B profile ( antibody antigen tests) is required and if it comes out to be active then PCR is done to see the viral load in the blood so that treatment can be started or modified according to the viral load.

I hope this answered your question, if you have any further queries feel free to ask.

Regards.

Dr.Muhammad Ahmad.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Arnab Banerjee

Follow up: Dr. Muhammad Ahmad (1 hour later)

Thanks. This patient had acute Hep B about 2 years ago. She lives in a country with limited access to competent health care and I am trying to help her along. She had the panel done at the advice of a friend. As you state, it indicates her liver function is normal but cannot tell us whether she is free of Hep B or has moved into chronic phase.

To be clear:

The test required to establish if the Hep B remains is called a "Hepatitis B Profile".

If that test indicates "active", then there is another test called "PCR" to measure the viral load. A doctor could look at those values and make suggestions for ongoing treatment.

WHAT might the treatment(s) be for chronic Hep B? Since, as I said, her access to certain things are limited. If it's also a matter of diet and health, what might those recommendations be, in general?

Answered by Dr. Muhammad Ahmad (24 hours later)

Brief Answer:
PCR will be done first in this case as the only test.

Detailed Answer:
Hello ,

Thanks for writing back , what I told you was the guideline stepwise approach ,now if the patient is deprived of medical facilities due to some reason then we skip less necessary steps and jump directly to PCR Quantitative, it is quite conclusive and one can directly decide about treatment after PCR Quantitative is done.

Now the tailored steps of management for this patient would be,

1) PCR Quantitative for Hep B virus.
2) If virus is positive(more than 2000 virus per unit of blood) then treatment will be given.
3) If virus is between 1 and 2000 then doctor decides how to go with it, he can start treatment or adapt wait and see policy.
4) If no Virus found, the patient does not need any treatment.

Latest Drugs which are being used all over the world are Entecavir and Tenofovir , the treatment is quite long sometimes you have to take the medication for 3-4 years, a PCR will be done during the treatment and viral load will be monitored to see effect of the drug and then doctor can stop the drug when 2-3 consecutive PCRs are negative.

I hope this helped you understand the situation more. If you have more things to discuss i am happy to guide you through.

Best Regards.

Dr.Muhammad Ahmad

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Raju A.T