If the patient has clinical signs of hepatitis, he needs to undergo a number of diagnostic measures, including examining the biological fluid for markers of various types of viruses. The study will help detect pathogens and determine their type. A blood test for hepatitis will show the presence of the disease, even if its manifestations are absent. Timely diagnosis of the disease increases the chances of stopping the pathology at an early stage of development.
Description of the disease
Hepatitis refers to diseases of various origins that affect the liver. All types of ailment are divided into viral and non-viral. The latter include radiation, autoimmune and toxic varieties of the pathological process. Hepatitis of viral origin are infectious diseases.
The disease can occur in acute, chronic and diffuse form, when the lesion spreads to the entire organ. All patients with hepatitis are given a blood test.
Analysis preparation
Preparatory measures include:
- Fasting blood in the morning. The last meal before taking the biomaterial should take place at least 8 hours in advance.
- There is an opportunity to take blood in the afternoon or in the evening. In this situation, it is not recommended to eat five hours before the study.
- You can not only eat, but also drink, including coffee, tea, juices. Only a glass of water without gas is allowed.
- Two days before the study, it is necessary to exclude fried and fatty dishes, as well as stop drinking alcohol.
- One hour before blood donation should not be smoked.
- It is not recommended to take the biological fluid for analysis after ultrasound, radiography and other instrumental studies. The same applies to physiotherapeutic procedures and massage.
- During the day before blood donation, medications can not be taken, and intense physical activity, including walking up stairs and running, should also be excluded. Overexcitation of the emotional type is also contraindicated.
- If it is impossible to cancel the medication, the doctor must inform about all of them.
- At least 15 minutes before taking biomaterial, you must be in a state of complete rest.
Patients are advised to donate blood in the morning, as indicators can vary throughout the day, which can distort the results of the study.
When to donate blood?
A blood test for hepatitis A is prescribed at the first manifestations of the pathology. The maximum concentration of antibodies to this virus is achieved within 30 days after infection. Further, over the course of one year, their level decreases to normal results.
A hepatitis C test is recommended no earlier than six weeks after the alleged infection with the virus.
Blood sampling
It is most optimal to take a blood test for hepatitis in a medical office. Although in some situations, a home collection service is provided. During the procedure, disposable sterile instruments and materials are used. When taking biological fluid from a vein, specialists adhere to the following algorithm of actions:
- To stop blood flow in the vessel, a medical tourniquet is applied to the patient in the area of the forearm. This allows you to fill the bend of the elbow with blood, the veins become convex and it is easier to get into them with a needle.
- The skin at the site of the alleged puncture is treated with an antiseptic, usually alcohol, using cotton wool or bandage.
- A needle is inserted into the vein cavity, to which a syringe is connected. Sometimes blood is immediately collected in special containers or test tubes.
- When the needle is inserted into the vein cavity, the tourniquet is removed.
- When enough blood is taken for examination, the medical instrument is gently pulled out of the soft tissues of the hand.
- A cotton swab slightly moistened with alcohol is applied to the injection site.
- To avoid the formation of a hematoma and stop the blood from emerging wounds faster, you should press the swab to the injection site, bend your arm at the elbow and hold it for some time.
Safe and painless procedure
When a blood sampling is performed by an experienced healthcare provider, the patient does not experience pain either during or after the procedure. In addition, this is a completely safe manipulation.
If a person is afraid of injections or does not tolerate the appearance of blood, a specialist’s bottle of ammonia is always at hand with a specialist. When the patient faints, he is given the chance to smell cotton wool soaked with ammonia.
Blood collected for the study must be delivered to the laboratory no later than two hours after collection from the patient.
What could be the result of a blood test for hepatitis?
Decryption analysis
If the result of a blood test is negative, this indicates the absence of virus antibodies in the human body. However, it is impossible to completely exclude the presence of infection by the results of one analysis of the biomaterial. This is due to the fact that the stability of the immune system in each person is different, as well as the long incubation period of many infectious pathologies, including those caused by hepatitis.
Only a repeated negative result of a blood test for antibodies to this disease confirms the absence of the disease. To obtain the most reliable results, both studies are recommended to be carried out in the same clinic.
Results depending on the type of ailment
Blood test results depend on the type of hepatitis:
- Hepatitis A. A method for testing for the presence of the IgG virus is called immunochemiluminescent. If the blood test for hepatitis is positive, we can conclude about the disease in an acute form of the course or the pathology just transferred. Normally, the IgG antibody index is less than 1.0.
- Hepatitis B. If LgM antibodies are detected in the patient’s blood, a positive test result is recorded. Even traces of the virus indicate the presence of hepatitis B in a chronic or acute course.
- Hepatitis C, D, E, and G. An ailment with a value of E is similar to Form A and is particularly dangerous for women during pregnancy. Hepatitis D in most cases is accompanied by a type B disease. The letter G is similar to C, but it proceeds in a less severe form and does not pose such a risk to human health and life. In this case, the study is carried out by enzyme immunoassay.
Hepatitis C
This is an anthroponous viral disease with a parenteral and instrumental route of infection. Its penetration is also possible through damaged skin and mucous membranes, the most dangerous transmission factor is blood. Often occurs in the form of post-transfusion hepatitis with a predominance of anicteric forms and is prone to chronicity.
What to do if a blood test revealed hepatitis C?
The first thing to say to those who have received a positive result in their hands is that they should not panic and despair.
There are several reasons for this:
- A blood test sometimes gives a false positive indicator.
- As a result of the analysis, Anti-HCV-total also shows the presence of infection in the past, which means that self-healing could occur.
- Hepatitis C is a disease that can be treated and controlled.
It should be borne in mind that within 6 weeks after infection, a blood test in a patient with hepatitis C will be negative, since the viruses are in the incubation period. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct several tests over a period of time. Normal indicators are the absence of antibodies in the blood. Positive values will remain during the treatment and immediately after recovery.
Research for non-viral forms of hepatitis
If there is a suspicion of hepatitis of non-viral origin, a blood test is performed for the following indicators:
- Bilirubin. Normal values are 5-21 μmol / L. Increased results indicate the presence of a pathological process in the liver.
- Fibrinogen. This protein can be in the range of 1.8-3.5 g / L. When the liver is damaged, the fibrinogen content falls well below normal.
- A protein of the general type in blood serum. Normal values range from 66-83 g / l. Against the background of hepatitis, the content of albumin decreases.
- Protein-type enzymes. The norm is determined by the indicators ALT and AST, which should be up to 50 and up to 75 units, respectively. Hepatitis increases the amount of these enzymes to abnormal results.
A check for the disease is carried out in each patient who has complaints of pain in the liver, as well as in those who suffer from icteric syndrome. Often a blood test is performed for hepatitis and HIV at the same time.
Blood test for HIV and syphilis
Autoimmune diseases that often accompany hepatitis are diagnosed through a blood test using the polymerase chain reaction method or using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Both methods are fairly accurate and informative.
The most common way is enzyme immunoassay. This study involves the detection of antibodies to certain pathologies in the human blood serum. In most cases, the incubation period of diseases is up to one and a half months. In every tenth patient, pathology manifests itself after 3-6 months, and in some cases at a later date. Optimal is the repeated blood donation every three months after the alleged infection.
What other blood tests for hepatitis, syphilis and HIV are performed? In addition to the above methods, the molecular method - PCR - has become widely used in medicine. When diagnosing HIV or syphilis, its principle is to study the polymerase chain reaction. This method is the only way to diagnose an infection early. A study is conducted in newborns if the woman was infected at the time of delivery. In addition, PCR can detect pathogenic viruses even during the incubation period, when antibodies are absent in the body. Thus, it is possible to prescribe therapy in a timely manner and reduce the risk of disease progression.
The result of the PCR test can be negative, positive or doubtful, in which it is necessary to repeat the study after some time.
Experts believe that diagnosing HIV on the basis of a single blood test is wrong. This is due to the fact that the indicators in the biomaterial can increase for other reasons not related to pathological processes. So, an allergic reaction can provoke the production of antigens in the body, which give a positive value in blood tests. Therefore, a prerequisite for diagnosis is the re-delivery of biomaterial.