hepatitis c

[lhooper01]

i have been diagnosed with hepatitis c and will start treatment next week. i had a score of 3 of my liver biopsy and my viral count is over 8 million. i know this is serious but my question is how bad is these counts and what does a 3 mean

[willbb]

Hi..If economics or lack of insurance is an issue a trial is a good way of receiving treatment, however with the possibility of receiving a placebo ,now that there are  new meds available  it can be the downside of that.(Do you happen to know what % of the trial participants get the placebo) ?

As Dave mentioned there are two aspects looked at with biopsy...grade and stage...if in fact you have stage  3 fibrosis .it would  seem to be a good idea to treat relatively soon .

The other thing that comes to mind about  entering a trial.is....if by chance you had a less than successful result in your trial (possibly because of receiving the placebo)..it may be a minimum of 2 yrs.or perhaps longer before you could re-treat,. because most often they don"t tell you what drug you were taking until the end of the whole trial finishing  and their data compiled and published etc.,and being stage  3 this may be a little longer to wait than you are comfortable with.

Just some things to consider and to  possibly talk over with your doc..

Good luck..

Will

[jpritch2]

The good news is you have a hepatologist.
they wont even look at hcv patients here..
hang in there
j

[spectda]

Do you have insurance? I am wondering why you are participating in trial rather then treating with one of the triple therapies that were approved recently.

the score of 3 can either mean your stage 3 (degree of fibrosis or scarring to your liver), or grade 3 ( degree of inflammation)

www.hcvadvocate.org/hepatitis/factsheets_pdf/grade_stage.pdf

"Metavir
The Metavir scoring system was specially designed for
patients with hepatitis C. The scoring consists of using a
grading and a staging system. The grade gives an indication
of the activity or amount of inflammation and the stage
represents the amount of fibrosis or scarring.

The grade is assigned a number based on the degree of
inflammation, which is usually scored from 0-4 with 0 being
no activity and 3 or 4 considered severe activity. The amount
of inflammation is important because it is considered a
precursor to fibrosis.

The fibrosis score is also assigned a number from 0-4:
• 0 = no scarring
• 1 = minimal scarring
• 2 = scarring has occurred and extends outside
the areas in the liver that contains blood vessels
• 3=bridging fibrosis is spreading and
connecting to other areas that contain fibrosis
• 4=cirrhosis or advanced scarring of the liver"

Best of luck to you with treatment,
Dave

[lhooper01]

yes the score of 3 was from the biopsy. i go to a heptaologist. i will be taking interferon and riv. and either ANA598 or a placebo. my genotype is 1a

[Anne1717]

Best of luck to you and before you know it, you will be done with this whole nasty mess.

[Anne1717]

+1

[willbb]

Hi there...sorry to hear of your recent diagnosis.   When you say a score of three..  did you have a biopsy  and was 3 the result of that.  The viral load is considered clinically high .however the really is not of much importance at this stage. Many people have been cured with viral loads that have been much higher than that.

If you  could tell us a little more.....your geno type? if you have had a biopsy?

Also are you starting treatment with one of the new meds that have just been approved,,and most importantly are you under the care of a Hepatologist or a Knowelegable G.I( in the treatment of HCV)

Good luck


Will