Re: Good News! ERCP NEGATIVE

[Guest guest]

Enjoy the good news as long as possible. But you may not want to turn your back on PSC just yet. There is small-duct PSC, where the ERCP can be negative, liver enzymes can be high, and the liver biopsy is consistent with PSC. The histology of the liver when you have PSC is distinctive. The odd thing is that it is possible to have an ERCP that is positive for PSC and a liver biopsy that is negative for PSC (the needle biopsy doesn't happen to take cells affected by PSC), and vice versa. But with a negative ERCP, positive liver biopsy, and high liver enzymes, chances are you may have small duct PSC. With small duct PSC, the larger bile ducts may not be affected by the disease (and the ERCP may be negative because it checks the larger bile ducts). I think of the bile duct tree as the plumbing pipes in a building. If smaller pipes are affected, the building doesn't shut down, but boy, if the main pipe goes, the building is in bad shape, and fast. With small duct PSC, the disease is in the smaller bile ducts. The good news with small-duct PSC is that it tends to be much less serious than regular PSC. It usually does not result in liver failure or the need for a transplant. But alas, small duct PSC can become regular PSC, and then you're in the same boat as all others with PSC. But hopefully you don't have PSC of any kind. Good News! ERCP NEGATIVE So I had my ERCP on Friday and it was completely negative. The bile ducts were completely normal and there was no sign of disease anywhere! The doctor thinks I may just have some fat in my liver that could be causing my enzymes to be elevated. He doesn't think I have autoimmune hepatitis either. I'm so excited about this. I may not be out of the woods yet but the doc said I don't have PSC.