Can I survive with stage 4 cirrohsis ?

[papimilk]

Thanks very much to anyone who can give me feedback.

I have had hep c type i for about 40 years. In january of this year i began hep c treatment with interferon , ribovarin and victrelis. I have compensated cirrohsis and my doctor says it is stage 4. My liver is functioning well. my viral load was 160,000 initially  and another test indicates i should have a favorable outcome. The hep c cleared my blood after 4 weeks of treatment. It is now undectable. My albumin and bilirubin levels are normal. My doctor feels i will be cured. My concern is the cirrohsis. i do not drink alcohol or do drugs even though i have in the past. Can i live a normal life after completing treatment? Will the scarring get better? How long do i need to be on meds? Thank you

[papimilk]

thank you for your response. best of luck to you

[orphanedhawk]

Of course you can survive. I have and I had decompensated cirrhosis.
As long as your is still compensated, your liver will be able to regenerate. It takes time but the liver is an amazing organ.

[MarkFly1]

Hi papimilk.  There is an interesting discussion about cirrhosis and regression of it over time at http://hepatitiscresearchandnewsupdates.blogspot.com/.

Scroll down, there are several articles about those who have SVR and in long term followup are assessed.  Very few still have a risk of HCC, but the risk is greatly reduced if you have SVR.

I'm curious, how was your fibrosis stage determined?  Biopsy?

Good luck to you and keep us informed.

MarkFly1

[copyman]

The liver damage can regress after successful treatment. There have been cases where fibrosis regressed a full stage. Hopefully this will be the case for you.

best of luck

[papimilk]

thank you very much for your response. Continued success

[can-do-man]

Hi there and welcome to the forum, I also have cirrhosis, did the victrelis treatment and now cured, it is recommened we do treatment for 48 weeks. When you say you were clear at 4 weeks do you mean during the lead in period? Either way your response has been great so stay the course and your odds are very good.

As for how much a cirrhotic liver will heal is much debated, one reason has been there is no reason once we treat to re-do a biopsy... I was Dx in early 2005 and so far doing pretty good, you will need to be screen for HCC, my Hepa feels as long as I behave myself and don't cause any further damage things should work out.............. Wishing you the best going forward.