Hepatitis C: A Complete Guide for Patients and Families (A Johns Hopkins Press Health Book) - Softcover

Thuluvath, Paul J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 142141757X ISBN 13: 9781421417578

Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015

Synopsis

The liver is the body's workhorse. It makes proteins and bile, processes fats, and detoxifies drugs and alcohol. The liver is a resilient organ, but it is susceptible to damage from a number of sources, including viral infections. Such infections cause inflammation of the liver, called hepatitis. This book is a comprehensive guide to hepatitis C, which affects about 3 percent of the world's population―3 to 4 million people in the United States alone. Some people with acute hepatitis C infection will be cured without any treatment, but when hepatitis C becomes chronic it may cause cirrhosis, liver cancer, and death.

Hepatitis C is transmitted from an infected person to an uninfected person by sharing drug-injecting equipment, snorting cocaine, having sex, or getting a blood transfusion or organ transplant. It can be spread by getting a tattoo with unsterile equipment. In rare cases, women with hepatitis C transmit the virus to their infants.

World-renowned gastroenterologist and liver specialist Dr. Paul J. Thuluvath provides detailed information about the disease and its diagnosis and management, including dramatically improved treatments that have recently emerged. Dr. Thuluvath answers common and uncommon questions about hepatitis C and liver disease, including

How is hepatitis C spread?
Who should be tested―and what tests diagnose hepatitis C and other liver diseases?
What are the symptoms of acute liver disease?
What are the symptoms and complications of chronic liver disease?
What are the complications of cirrhosis (scarring of the liver)?
How does hepatitis C affect other organs in the body?
What treatment options are available, and what side effects might they have?
How is early liver cancer diagnosed and treated?
When is liver transplantation needed, and how does it work?

Dr. Thuluvath provides the latest information on new interferon-free regimens, which have shown a cure rate of more than 90% in people with specific genotypes―and which avoid the distressing side effects of interferon therapy. He discusses hepatitis C in children as well as complementary and alternative medicine. Published while revolutionary changes are taking place in the treatment of hepatitis C, this authoritative guide will become the preferred reference for people with hepatitis C and their families.

About this title

Review:

"Superior to similar guides. Incredibly thorough and well-written, the book provides novel information for patients and providers alike."

(Sammy Saab, MD, MPH, AGAF, Pfleger Liver Institute)

"A highly readable, up-to-date and comprehensive book for people who have Hepatitis C. Dr. Thuluvath superbly explains this common and often poorly understood condition in an invaluable resource for patients and families in understanding Hepatitis C and its complications and management."

(Keith D. Lindor, MD, FAASLD, Arizona State University, 2016 President of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases)

"This straightforward, smartly presented book provides a wealth of information about Hepatitis C, a viral disease now affecting over three million people in the United States alone... Recommended."

(American Reference Books Annual)

"Thuluvath conveys his interest in his subject with passion and optimism, balanced by a pragmatic commentary on the advantages of early identification of risk factors and diagnosis. His prose is factual and he is keen to evidence treatment options throughout. The book is written clearly, free from jargon and offers a wealth of information about hepatitis It reflects the context in which it is written, the US health care system..."

(Nursing Times)

Book Description:

Vital and hopeful information for people suffering from hepatitis C, an often chronic―and sometimes deadly―disease of the liver.

About this edition

• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 142141757X
• ISBN 13: 9781421417578
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304