Re: Can anyone read this biopsy?

[Guest guest]

Tammy...... bottom line.....you ain't no candidate for transplant

yet....I'll write later to explain it in more detail as the Browns are

about ready to play and they still have a chance at the playoffs......

You is relatively fine if not a picture of health...and your liver isn't

near killing you yet....... be careful in traffic and the bathtub ...

Go Browns.... and GO BUCKEYES!

love jerry

[Guest guest]

Tammy....I can pretty well decipher this report for you,but, as Joanne

has pointed out I'm not a doctor so the best thing to do is just flat

out ask him / her what it means in layman's terms.

I can say that it doesn't seem to indicate cirrhosis yet.. (by its own

admission). They want to test for Epstein-Barr just to be sure (they

want to rule it out. (eosinophils are leukocytes (white blood cells)

whose increased presence could indicate many things..from a parasite, to

mono (Epstien-barr virus) to even rheumatoid arthrtis. Plasma cells are

also antibodies whose increased presence is found in AIH. (may even be

one of the indicators of AIH.)

The epithelium is a single latyer of cells found lining the inner walls

of blood vesels, a barrier to help stop the leakage of blood thru the

vessel walls Epithelialitis is the inflammaion of these cells caused by

an intrusion between the epithelium and vessel walls. You know what the

bile duct is and of course a hepatocyte is a liver cell.Inflammatory

cells is self explanatory and infiltrate means exactly what it says..The

liver is divided into lobes (lobular) Parenchyma is the basic body of an

organ ...the overall structure. The portal tracts are the many little

" vessels " or conduits that empty into the portal vein.The places where

the blood is filtered before being sent back to the heart. Evidently

there is some amount of damaged cells throughout this area. Foci are

localized areas of damage or disease (focus- singular- a point, a

central position). Trichrome means three color .they stain the slide

specimens to determine various conditions. this stain revealed some

fibrosis with apparent connective tissue between some of the

points (foci) - " bridging " . The damaged cells and the fibrosis formed is

not to a point that it interferes with blood flow to any great extent

and the changes made by the fibrosis and regenerated cells to the basic

shape or structure or make up of the liver (architecture) is not severe

enough to interrupt the functions of the liver as its main vessels are

still intact...thus not cirrhosis.. Another test the reticulin stain is

where they stain certain cells (reticulum cells). These cells present as

a lattice work throughout an organ and a deviation of pattern will

suggest certain conditions. This test confirmed the absence of

cirrhosis,

The iron stain (prussian blue) is usd to detect iron overload

(hemachromatosis)

and it was negative. They also noted cell damage in some parts of the

bile duct system, but it wasn't great enough to interfere with its

functions to any great extent. " ballooning " is where damaged cells swell

up from the inflamation and I'm not sure the significance of

degeneration caused by ballooning hepatocytes but in any case you don't

have them.

Again as was pointed out I'm not a doctor but I spent 5 years as a

pre-med student with a B.S in anatomy I do a lot of research into

liver disease, and a lot of this is familiar to me as I had a good

rapport with my Hep. throughout my ESLD and Tx and asked a lot of

questions. I also have a good command of the English language and am

familiar with a lot of medical terms. This would lead me to guess that

all in all the biopsy was favorable to you.

But in fairness I can't diagnose and even though I technically can't

interpret bios my backround gives me a somewhat elevated ability to

interpret over most laymen. Again though, I urge you to ask your doctor

the exact meaning to your of your test. It is possible I'm off base..

its happened before (once or maybe twice)

Anyways I wish nothing but the best

for you and I wil go out on a limb and predict you will not die of liver

disease today.

love jerry

my pardons Joanne... please note the disclaimers