JmJm, VL reductions?

[gauf]

Jim, I know you are up on testing.  Wondering about VL. I had a VL of roughly 4 mil., a year ago, 3.44 mil. 4 mos. ago, and currently 3.14 mil.  I know VL fluxuates but wondering if the decrease over time can mean anything, or is it just the test itself.

[CockSparrow]

Your VL dropped around 4mil to just over 3 mil
Mine dropped from something over 800k to 600k
d977 clains his VL has dropped by 30% using MMT

I seem to remember Lady Lauri saying her VL dropped when on MT.

Now if these drops were all just part of test variability should some of the VL have gone up? Just a thought, Maybe MT actually does something.

No Idea what its significance is though.

Is it just me or are we placing a deal of trust in something that basically cant count.
CS

[gauf]

Thought as much. Thanks!

[jmjm530]

Well, I'm not "JennyPenny" but I do agree with her :) Actually, the differences in the numbers you cite fall within testing variances alone and are really of no clinical significance. But even if the results were signficantly different -- let's day a viral load of 30 million falling to under a million -- still not sure what you can make of it -- and btw that was my viral load drop prior to treating for no readily apparent reason.

One thing we can't make of even a significant difference in VL is trying to equate it with liver damage because you can have high viral load and little damage or vice versa. Probably the most we can make of viral load is when it comes time to treat, as studies suggest those with low pre-treatment viral loads do better than those with high pre-treatment viral loads. However, there appears to be no difference in SVR rates between "high" pre-treatment viral and "very high" pre-treatment viral loads. Don't have the cut-off numbers handy, but that means that someone with let's say a pre-treatment viral load of 30 million IU/ml has about the same chance of SVR as someone with a pre-treatment viral load of 3 million IU/ml. The former would be considered very high and the latter simply high.

-- Jim

[JennyPenny]

Gauf, I'm not Jim, but hopefully I can help. The changes in viral load that you are describing are not considered changes by the experts. While the numbers seem huge to us, they really aren't. VL fluctuates all the time. It is normal for that to happen in HCV patients. It's meaningless.

Susie