Advice???

[carol411]

I'm treating with a GP in a very rural area.  The doctor did not intend to do a PCR until week twelve of my treatment but thanks to the wonderful people on this board I was able to talk him into a test at five weeks.  (nygirl, they do listen if you site a support group!).  The nurse called last week with the results, but then did not send them to me.  Today my husband went down to the office and got a copy for me.

HCV RNA QUANTATIVE  <43  IU mL
HCV RNA, QUANTATIVE <1.63 LogIU/mL

If I understand what I've been reading here, that is undetectable isn't it?  WOOOO HOOOOO!!!!

My question is should I be asking for more of these tests through treatment to make sure the virus is still gone?  And how long should I treat?  I'm genotype 2b and twenty four weeks should be enough if I had cleared at four weeks, but the test was taken at five weeks so I don't know when it dropped.  It seems that I read somewhere you should treat either four or five times as long as it took for the virus to be undetectable.  I don't want to let the beast take over again because my doctor didn't order tests on time.  Does anyone have opinions on this?

I'm happy dancing across the room!

Carol

[spectda]

congrats on und and rvr your chances are great. really good news!
- Dave

[carol411]

Trinity and Bill, I'll request retests at twelve and twenty four.  And without the fear of the first one.  Thank you for answering.  It's hard to tell what kind of plan I would have hatched without you.

Carol

[Bill1954]

Carol, I haven’t seen that particular study, but my uneducated guess is that it’s directed towards genotype 1. If you can find it, or know who brought that in, let us know. As a GT-2 that is now undetectable for virus, I’d think your odds of success are now greater than 90%. I think before treatment even begins, it’s in excess of 80%. Just take your meds, and you should do fine.

Most of the time, once a patient reaches UND status, they remain that way for the duration. If the virus reappears while taking the meds, it’s known as breakthrough; I believe this occurs in <5% of patients.

You might ask for additional viral testing at 12 and 24 weeks to rule out breakthrough.

Seriously good stuff; hang in there—

Bill

[Trinity4]

Congratulations on your RVR.  You probably did clear the virus by 4 weeks and in your case the recommended 24 wk treatment should send you to SVR land.

I think a 12 wk PCR would be wise and then another at EOT.  You are responding very well to the medications and that RVR is the best indicator of SVR.

Good Luck
Trinity