Will liver improve if ones achieves SVR

[hopefulgirl38]

Hello all,

I have been reading a.lot of literature and am getting confused.  My partner has grade a early cirrohsis - he is genotype 3 and undectable at week 2 of treatment.  if he successfully achieves SVR - will the cirrohsis continue to get worse.  he rarely drinks alcohol and for the most part leads a healthy lifestyle.  Or once you have cirrohsis it continues to fet wroose regarless.  There seems to be so much conflicting info.

[willing]

SVR is great, no doubt about it, but there may be a tendency to oversell it. Given that Drs have a devil of a time distinguishing stages of moderate-advanced fibrosis before tx, one should be a bit skeptical of optimistic  comments that promise a quick return to normal (based on what data?); all the more so since there is far less bx data on SVRs.

post-SVR improvement in fibrosis levels seems well supported:
"Levels of all 4 serum fibrosis markers decreased significantly in the SVR patients, consistent with reduced hepatic fibrogenesis. Measuring serum fibrosis marker levels before and after antiviral therapy may provide important prognostic information in CHC patients."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19068241

however, taking up alcohol or other liver-unfriendly habits  may be unwise. As suggested above, at least testing for confirmed decline in levels of fibrosis-associated markers (YKL-40,HA) may be a good idea before falling back into bad habits.

[hopefulgirl38]

Thanks  everyone, F1 guy the links you attached I had already read amongst many other research articles this was why  I had revisited the question as there seems to be a lot of conflicting info around this topic.  Personal expereinces seem to be providing a better understanding for myself.  Thanks for the links and all the suport everyone

[orleans]

I was late stage 3.  My hepatologist said I could expect full liver recovery in around 3 years. (Depending on a healthy life style and SVR)

[Mr Liver]

"It just goes to show you can't believe everything you read on the web."

Isn't that the truth ? I was musing the same while reading through some threads.

ML

[RobertBeWell]

Would it be accurate to say it's the only INTERNAL organ that can regenerate itself? Or should I quit while I'm ahead and just say it can regenerate itself ?

lol

[Bill1954]

:)

[Rockerforlife]

good point,never even thought about the skin healing it self.Too bad or brains cant

[RobertBeWell]

It just goes to show you can't believe everything you read on the web.

[Rockerforlife]

I was just talking to my great nurse and she says the the liver regenerates at a slower rate if you have just dad hep and you SVR as opposed to someone who donates a part of thier liver or even from alchol drinking...she also says its ok to have no more than one drinka day

[Mr Liver]

Merely for the sake of accuracy the liver is certainly an interesting organ but its not the only one that can regenerate itself. The largest organ, our skin can also do this.
ML

[RobertBeWell]

The liver is the only organ in the body that can regenerate itself. It's a very interesting little bugger.

[newleaf09]

Studies (and you want to look up the recent ones released within just the last 2 years...especially look for the one that came out of the HALT-C study) say that it is not at all uncommon to regress back 2 stages after successful TX.  Those with lower levels of damage can back up all the way to a perfectly healthey liver. The HALT-C related report re-biopsied patients 4-5 years apart.  The liver does not repair overnight but it does repair and is the only major organ of the body that can.  Pretty cool.

[FlGuy]

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Hepatitis-C/genotype-3--week-4-of-treatment---Anxious/show/1213461?personal_page_id=1387#post_5546853

[JennyPenny2009]

No, it will not get worse. In fact it is likely to get better. I actually know someone who was in a study and had a biopsy 7 years asfter her SVR. She was cirrhotic to begin with and now she is Stage 1. I wish your partner good luck.