Title: Diagnosis of liver disease through macroscopic analysis of the auricular pavilion assisting in the early treatment of chronic Hepatitis C

Biography:

Abstract

Introduction: The Hepatitis C is one of the most important public health problems today due to the high proportion of chronic disease (about 80% of cases). The disease is usually asymptomatic, progressing slowly, producing cirrhosis in 20% of patients who harbor the virus for varying periods, and developing liver cancer, or needing a liver transplant.

Purpose: The idea is to demonstrate, using a case report, how the auricular pavilion can give us information of a possible liver disease in the patient, where it helped to diagnose hepatitis C.

Methods: Through a case report of a female patient of about 40 years which, were being treated because of an edema and fatigue by using acupuncture. In her physical exam, it was found a bulging in the area of the right and left ear, in the location corresponding to the area of the liver, according to the Auricular Acupuncture theory. We asked for laboratory exams, which confirmed she was carrying the hepatitis C virus. The PCR was the reagent for hepatitis C.Results:  With this diagnosis, it was possible to make the conventional treatment with interferon plus ribavirin in the patient, who after 6 months of treatment, negative serology and CRP, remaining negative until today, 10 years after.Conclusion:  The observation of the auricular pavilion can be a possibility of assisting the doctor to diagnose different pathologies, in this specific case, hepatitis C virus. The patient had the opportunity to have proper treatment, curing the disease, which could not happen without the Auricular diagnosis