Only 12 week treatment

[Pulver]

Hi im new here. I started treatment whit pegintron/riba 6 weeks ago. UND at 4 weeks. Now my doc thinks i only have to treat 12 weeks total because my gen type is 2b im under 25 and no diabetes. Is 12 weeks enough? i

[Pulver]

Oh. I will call doc tomorrow and try to reason whit him. Hope he listens, im angry that i didnt asked more questions when he told me to reduce my meds. Thanks for giving me the info. I will tell him that i want to treat for 16 weeks and to keep the normal dose next week. I have this feeling its hard to telling him what to do but hopefully its just in my head

[willbb]

Welll.. your doctor threw  a bit of a monkey wrench into the mix IMO ,by reducing the Peg.

With an ANC of .72 many doctors would not have done that. Data shows that there is little risk of "bacterial infection" with lowered ANC within the HCV treatment population.  ,and many will let the level get to ,.5 or possibly even a bit lower.
Reducing therapy meds is never ideal ,especially when considering a shortened tx. time frame.

Possibly a discussion with your doctor about not reducing ..especially as you only have 6 or so weeks left if you  shorten the time on treating..
Good luck..
Will

[Pulver]

Ok thanks for the answers. I guess ill go for shorter treatment and hope for the best. My neutrophils are currently low at 0.72 - (2 when i started) so they removed 1ml of peg/week yesterday hoping to get it in level.. if it doesnt work i need neupogen.. my ALT went down from 60+ to 13 in 4 weeks must be a good sign right?

[copyman]

I agree with a few other posters. Since you are  GT 2 12 weeks is probably enough. Personally I would do 16 weeks just for my own peace of mind.

Your doctor is actually well informed to know about stopping at 12 weeks. The less you take these harsh drugs the better.

Best of luck

[desrt]

Geno 3 has always been slightly tougher. The same early studies that showed almost identical SVR rates for geno 2 (not taking RVR into consideration) showed a drop from 80-85% SVR for geno 3 down to aprox. 67% with 12 week treatment.
I'm always slightly suspicicious of studies that lump 2 and 3 together.

[desrt]

Even without taking RVR into account, there have been studies showing no
significant differevce between 12 weeks and 24 for geno 2. If you were undetected at 4 weeks, you will probably be exposing your body to twice as much interferon as is needed if you do 24.

[willbb]

I have a slightly different take on this given the studies I have linked below.
The data from numerous studies done ,if a geno type 2 achieves and RVR and meets certain parameters (ie. mild fibosis.and /or obesity).) then if you peruse Table 2 in the link I, a course of between 12 -16 weeks   "may" not be any less effective and less exposure to the medication

Good luck..
Will

" To reduce the costs and spare the side effects of combination treatment, several studies have investigated the effectiveness of treatment for less than 24 weeks after an RVR. Several studies in Europe and one study from Taiwan [13] have shown that a course of treatment with PEG-IFN and weight-based RBV for 12–16 weeks was not less effective or was cost-effective compared to the standard of 24 weeks [13, 14, 15, 16, 17]. However, one larger multicenter study, using a fixed dosage of RBV did not demonstrate that the two treatments were not less effective [18]. Based on the analysis of results in the literature, the updated European guidelines conclude that HCV-2 and -3 can be treated for 12–16 weeks when HCV RNA is undetectable after 4 weeks of treatment, as long as there is no advanced liver disease or obesity and RBV is weight-based [19]. The guidelines suggest that a short course of treatment may be slightly less effective in patients with HCV-3.

Rapid virological response, SVR and relapse rates for HCV-2 patients in studies on short treatment duration with separate analysis of HCV-2 and -3 are shown in Table 2. Patients with HCV-2 infection had extremely high RVR rates ranging from 68 to 87%. No significant differences were observed in the SVR rate after 12 or 24 weeks of treatment once RVR was achieved (Table 2). After 24 weeks of treatment, the risk of relapse in patients with HCV-2 is low and the increased risk as a result of a short treatment course"

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1478-3231.2011.02710.x/full

[HectorSF]

Is 12 weeks enough? No. If you stop the virus will come back.

Your doctor is to put is politely "misinformed".
What type of doctor is this? PCP, gastroenterologist?
He/she is unfamiliar with the basic duration of hepatitis C treatment.

You should seek a second opinion ASAP from a gastroenterologist who is knowledgeable and experienced in successfully treating patients with hepatitis C.

Good luck.

Hector