Possible Glitch?

[willie_mcgee]

i've been in a polymerase inhibitor phase 2 study and starting VL was under 200,000.  i was und by week 4.  i was taken off of study drug after week 13 or 14 due to low lymphocyte levels.  i was then taken off of the peg and my last injection was back on 5/15.  i was still und at weeks 12, 18, and 22.  last week was my week 24 test.  that night, i resumed the peg and  will follow the course for the next 6 months.

well, my nurse practitioner just called with my week 24 results.  it wasn't the conversation that i wanted to have, but she said that my viral load was reported at 22, which is just over the detectable level of 15.  my heart sank right away.  she and the doctor heading this study, which is a pretty world reknowned doctor in this field, feels that this is most likely a glitch.  she told me that when someone relapses, the VL goes up by the thousands, and not by single digits.  also, my liver enzymes are still reading normal.  at week 12 my ast/ alt was 28/24, at week 18 it was 24/23, and at week 24 it was 27/31 - which is up slightly from before, and is still a cause for concern.  anyway, the drug company declined to retest, so i have to wait until week 30 to find out.

do you think that i can put faith into why they think it might be a lab error?  i won't find out for sure until week 30.

[DragonSlayer45]

I am guessing you might have been participating in the Roche 1626 trial. If I am not mistaken they were having issues with low lymphocytes with some patients. It could just be a deviation in the blood test with your VL. While it would be unsettling I would not panic with those results. Your Nurse is right your levels would not go up by a couple of digits if you relapsed.

As far as getting an independent test I would think you need a doctor to order that for you and you insurance to pay for it. If it is really keeping you up then get your doctor to order it up for you. Good luck and try not to stress too much.

[HectorSF]

I'm with gator on this. Why live in suspense for weeks? It's better to know for sure one way or the other. (At least for me). Either your still undetectable and you've got about a 90% chance of SVR or...treatment was stopped too soon and you replapsed. If you relapsed you will need to retreat at some point. Either way you are a RVR responder which is the best responder you can be. You have an excellent chance of SVR now or in the future.

Good luck!
Hector

[willie_mcgee]

oh yeah, i have type 1B

[Fl_Gator]

have it done independantly...don't post your results...