Cirrhosis TX

Does anyone know at what stage in cirrhosis is one beyond tx...has anyone or does anyone know of anyone who has been treated successfully at the compenstaed stage?  

[tashka]

Yes, there are several people on this forum who were successfully treated with compensated cirrhosis-usually with addition of protease inhibitor. I am sure they will respond to you.

I personally don't know anyone who was successfully treated with decompensated cirrhosis. Treatment at this stage may be dangerous and may make decompensation worse.

[eureka254]

Many experienced hepatologists will treat patients with cirrhosis.  Compensated cirrhotics are usually considered good candidates, especially if they are  Child-Pugh Class A cirrhotics.  For an explanation of how to compute the Child-Pugh score you can visit the below webpage.
http://www.mdcalc.com/child-pugh-score-for-cirrhosis-mortality.

Treatment for Class B and Class C cirrhotics present more significant risks, and it's usually a risk/benefit decision made by health providers.  Usually physicians do not treat class C cirrhotics as it risks furthering decompensation.

There are a number of cirrhotics here who have treated successfully.  My husband is a class A cirrhotic who reached undetected at week 13 (geno 1, so it was considered a good response), but he's still undergoing treatment, so can't answer on whether he's successful or not yet.

[portann]

Hi Pink,

Can-do-man was a stage four (hopefully his liver is regressing as I write) and treated successfuly in a trial. He stops in regularly but you can also flag him down with a note or private message.

Susan

[hcvJames]

What test is used to come up with Bilirubin & Albumin? What is INR?
Thanks

[eureka254]

Bilirubin, albumin, and INR can be measured through blood tests.  The bilirubin and albumin are usually part of what's known as a hepatic function panel (often part of the monthly testing during hep c treatment), and the INR stands for International Normalized Ratio, often called Prothrombin Time, and it measures blood's clotting time.

[HectorSF]

Compensated cirrhosis can be treated although the chances of SVR are reduced because of the amount of fibrosis. There are a number of clinical trials that have cirrhotics as part of the trial population where is can see the differences between the SVR rates if cirrhotics vs the HCV population with lesser degrees of fibrosis.

I have signs of decompensated cirrhosis, ascites and HE. My MELD score is 15. My hepatologist says that she will treat me with Telaprevir when available IF my MELD score stays under 20. My doctor is one of the leading hepatologist in the country, so not all hepatologist are experienced enough in dealing with all of the possible issues that may arise in treating someone with advanced cirrhosis.
Note: Anybody with cirrhosis must be aware that there is a risk that the treatment my cause liver failure so should have a backup plan (transplant) should this happen.

Hectorsf

[can-do-man]

Hello, i was dx in 2005 with cirrhosis, treated with SOC for 86 weeks but relapsed 4 weeks post tx. Started the boceprevir trial and i'm now SVR. So yes it can be done. The only issues i had during tx was very low platelets and anemia, your best bet is to go with one of the PI's and find a good hepatologist whos not affraid to treat.......... Best to you.

Cando