My brother has an enlarged spleen and Hep.C

I just resently found out that I have hep.C as well, born with it actually we saw signs but ignored them because of fear. Well anyway my older brother has it as well and his spleen is extremly large; is the same thing going to happen to me? I'm afraid to ask questions because its really hard to talk with my mom, everytime I bring it up she gets tears in her eyes, I don't want to hurt her. And I can't ask my doctor because she comes in, and I don't want her to know that I'm freaked. So, will my spleen enlarge too, what does that have to do with Hep. C?

[JennyPenny]

An enlarged spleen happens in late stage liver disease when there is a lot of scar tissue in the liver. The majority of hepatitis patients do not reach that stage but there is no way to know who will be lucky and who will progress. I know you don't want to hurt your mom but doing nothing can hurt you. It may be time to ask your doctor to send you to a specialist, either a hepatologist or gastroenterologist or infectious disease doctor and get evaluated. There is treatment for hepatitis C that can cure the disease in 45-80% of people depending on their genotype. I bet your mom will understand.

[Bulldoggergal]

Well..not cure so to speak...but put it into a non-detected state so that it doesn't continue to do the damage it is doing now.  It is definitely better than not doing anything though...so you do need to talk to your mom and I know it hurts her (I'm a mom now so I can imagine) but it's time for her to accept that her sons have HepC, educate herself (and you) about the HepC and then deal with it...one day at a time.

Let her know you are there to support her as she is for you...together, and your brother too, the three of you can deal successfully with the HepC.

[JennyPenny]

Cure For Hepatitis C Announced By Researcher

ScienceDaily (May 22, 2007) — The use of peginterferon alone, or in combination with ribavirin, points to a cure for hepatitis C, the leading cause of cirrhosis, liver cancer and the need for liver transplant, a Virginia Commonwealth University researcher recently said.


Mitchell Shiffman, M.D., professor in the VCU School of Medicine, and chief of hepatology and medical director of the Liver Transplant Program at the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, is one of the lead investigators in the study, which was presented at the 38th annual Digestive Disease Week conference in Washington, D.C. VCU was among about 40 sites worldwide studying pegylated interferon alfa-2a, manufactured by Roche Inc.

Nearly all -- 99 percent -- of patients with hepatitis C who were treated successfully with peginterferon alone, or in combination with ribavirin, had no detectable virus up to seven years later. Researchers say this data validates the use of the word "cure" when describing hepatitis C treatment as successful treatment is defined as having undetectable hepatitis C virus in the blood six months following treatment.

"We at VCU are encouraged by this data because it is rare in the treatment of life-threatening viral diseases that we can tell patients they may be cured," Shiffman said. "In hepatitis C today, we are able to help some patients achieve an outcome that effectively enables them to put their disease behind them."

The results are based on a long-term follow-up study designed to determine if the virus re-emerges in patients who have achieved treatment success. The study reviewed 997 patients, either mono-infected with chronic HCV or co-infected HCV and HIV, who achieved a sustained viral response (SVR) following treatment with either Pegasys (peginterferon alfa-2a) monotherapy or combination therapy with Pegasys and ribavirin.

After successful treatment, researchers monitored serum levels of HCV once a year for an average of 4.1 years (range 0.4 to 7 years). Of the 997 patients, 989 maintained undetectable levels of HCV. The remaining eight patients tested positive for HCV at an average of two years following treatment completion. The study found that these eight patients exhibited no consistency in age, gender or HCV genotype, and it has not yet been determined if these patients experienced a relapse or if they were re-infected with HCV.

Hepatitis C is a blood-borne infectious disease of the liver and a leading cause of cirrhosis, liver cancer and the need for liver transplants. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 4.1 million Americans have been infected with hepatitis C, and 3.2 million are chronically infected. The number of new infections per year declined from an average of 240,000 in the 1980s to about 26,000 in 2004, the latest year for which statistics are available. The CDC estimates the number of hepatitis C-related deaths could increase to 38,000 annually by the year 2010, surpassing annual HIV/AIDS deaths.