Question for Grand Oak: treating with V/L AFTER week 24

[NYgirl]

Go,

I am sort of wonderinng - having such a big v/l at week 24...have the doctors talked to you about ODDS of SVR because honestly I was told if I had not responded by week 24 I would be taken off.

I know they messed with your riba - but my question is this...are they going to take a look at like week 30 or 36 and then decide or something?

Just staying on treatment as a non-responder/responder/relapser all over the place for 72 weeks...well that really doesn't make any sense unless you KNOW it is working.

My odds of beating this are really not so hot and I cleared between weeks 12 and 24 somewhere.  For every week you aren't UND after 4 I guess it hurts your odds.

Doing 72 isn't any easy walk in the park and in fact - I am pretty sure that the shot sides are compounded greatly for some reason.  But since part of the reason we take Interferon is to have it teach our bodies to fight the virus on it's own...it's not JUST killing it and moving on you know?

What are they using to judge the standard?  That is my question.  I hope that made sense.  I'm sure tehre is an easier way to say it but = my brains are fried.

[HepCBoy]

>well that really doesn't make any sense unless you KNOW it is working.

That asumes that SVR is the only reason people treat, it isn't. As you can guess I didn't clear until after 24 weeks, maybe as late as 36 and things look very different when you are in amongst it. When you are staring down the barrell of about a 1% chance of SVR  doubling your chances seems an offer almost too good to refuse.

[GrandOak]

HepCBoy does make a valid point.  If nothing else, my liver is getting a vacation from having to fight the virus, sustaining more damage, and only focus upon it's primary function.

[GrandOak]

We really didn't discuss any odds because it would seem that there's no formula to calculate them.

What we opted to do was strive for the weight-based dosage of 1400 mg, go 12 wks from there, measure VL to see if 2 log drop from original 72 million has been obtained.

If so, consider going the full 72, most likely with a new week 24 and possibly week 48 VL measurement to see if dropping or UND is achieved.

If not, then we go back to the board and figure out where to go.

This course was choosen because except for the chemo-induced anemia and neutropenia, I've suffered few of the other sx's associated with HCV tx and it was better to give me a shot at UND using full Riba rather than throw in the towel.

It has made me directly aware of what more and more studies are showing with the respect to what the proper dose of Riba being crucial in HCV treatment for VL reduction.