Knowledge of the prevalence of liver damage will help decision making regarding screening for the effects of hepatitis C and when to start anti-viral therapy.
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The research team discovered highly likely signs of liver damage by calculating the patients' liver enzymes, platelet counts and age in a previously validated test called a FIB-4 score. Several patients in the study had cirrhosis and probably did not know they had cirrhosis. Gordon said, "Sometimes the clues of liver damage or cirrhosis are very subtle - a dropping platelet count, a spleen size that is slightly increased on an ultrasound. It is not unusual for patients with hepatitis C to come in and they have liver cancer, and they didn't even know that they had cirrhosis that led to their cancer."
The results could have wider impact on the treatment of those with hepatitis C, a disease now curable in many cases with oral antivirals. The authors said, "People with hepatitis C need to find out the severity of their underlying liver disease, because they may not realize that they have cirrhosis."
Source-IANS