On Tue, 30 Mar 2004 21:28:33 -0600, Don <ikiru@nowhere.org>, in
message ID <dddk60h7upi6voojf0i2i75ee0tkp90guo@4ax.com>, in the
newsgroup alt.support.hepatitis-c wrote:

My thoughts on this (I am not a medical professional) are that it
would probably be a good idea to establish the condition of your liver
with a biopsy.  That way, in the future, you will be able to tell if
you liver is regenerating OK (in the event of succesful tx) OR will be
able to tell at what pace your liver is deteriorating (in the event of
unsuccesful tx).
The ultrasound is not normally sufficient to fully establish condition
of the liver.  My ultrasound was fine but the biopsy revealed some
"moderate" damage.
As you say, if you have a biopsy, tx should not start till after it.
The tx drugs can drop the platelets and, if they drop too low,
invasive work is best avoided.
N.B.  Of course, there are sometimes other reasons it is better to
avoid a biopsy - most notably in the event of hemophilia or,
sometimes, if a person is on medication that has blood thinning
properties such as warfarin.
I don't know what the link may be with your iron levels and not having
a biopsy but I guess your doctor would be able to explain that (or
maybe someone on here knows).  I have heard that high iron levels can
help the virus replicate faster.  I don't know if that's proven
medical fact though.

They won't let you skip the biopsy, it is required for tx. Plus it is the
only way to see what shape your liver is in. The actual biopsy won't take
long and it is not painful until a few minutes after, but they should give
you pain meds for the pain while in recovery. They didn't keep me overnight,
just the whole day to make sure I didn't bleed out and such. Good luck!
C.

I wouldn't. You need to know what shape your liver is in. The thing about
this disease is that people go years and years without knowing they have
hcv. All the time the virus is destroying your liver. If it were me, I get
the biopsy.
Good luck!
hc

Thanks for the feedback to all.  I'm going forward with it.  The VA
has a mandatory psychiatric baseline they do before tx which will
probably be around the time of the biopsy so I wouldn't be starting tx
any sooner anyways.  They tell me 30% of patients develop psychiatric
problems during tx so they like to screen beforehand and establish a
baseline.  I'm learning that tx isn't something you rush into.  At
least not with the VA medical.