svr

[sharon1730]

I am now 12 weeks post treatment and had my blood work come back that I am undetectable.  How does this affect my SVR at 24 weeks?  Does anyone know the stats?

Thanks in advance for any responses.  

[frijole]

Don't know the stats but I would think your chances are pretty darn good.  Seems like I had a CBC and liver profile about 10 weeks after treating and saw a spike in my liver enzymes.  This was my first indication that treatment had failed.   My PCR at week 24 reflected the relapse.  So for me, a 12 week PCR would have shown a viral load.  Congratulations!
frijole

[Proactive]

Nice to see you posting frijole, you are always in my thoughts!!!

Sharon, thought you might enjoy this read

"THREE MONTH HCV RNA BY PCR POST IFN AND RIBAVIRIN THERAPY FOR SUCCESSFULLY TREATED CHRONIC ACTIVE HEPATITIS C (HCV) CAN BE USED TO DETERMINE SUSTAINED VIROLOGICAL RESPONSE (SVR)

Lino J. De Guzman, Bradley Collins, Inland Empire Digestive Diseases & Liver Center, Redlands, CA.



AIM:

The purpose of this trial was to evaluate the earliest time point (one or three months) before patients (pts) can be classified as having a SVR after a complete response (CR) to HCV treatment (TX). Currently, the standard is to wait 6 months after TX before identifying pts with a SVR. It is estimated that 98% of pts with a SVR at 6 months will remain virus free indefinitely unless re-exposed and infected.



Methods:

A total of 60 HCV pts who had a CR had quantitative HCV RNA by PCR collected at the end of TX and at 1, 3 and 6 month intervals thereafter. There were 33 males, 35 pts were Genotype (G)1, 11 pts G 2 and 14 pts G 3. In order to qualify, pts must have completed 24 weeks if G2 or G3 or 48 weeks if G1 of either PEG IFN or standard IFN plus ribavirin. Metavir scores were the following: F0 (7 pts), F1 (22 pts), F2 (14 pts ), F3 (11 pts) and F4 (6 pts). This trial also examined if any underlying relationship existed between a pts total white blood cell count (WBC) and amino alanine transferase (ALT) levels after cessation of therapy to predict ultimate response or relapse.



Results:

HCV RNA by PCR taken at 1 and 3 months after completing TX correlated highly with viral loads obtained at 6 months. A total of 13 of the 60 pts (21.6%) with CR relapsed. All of the 3 month HCV RNA measurements were in exact agreement with those taken at 6 months (100% specificity). Only one (G 3) pt who had a CR after 24 weeks of TX became HCV RNA(+) between the 1 and 3 month blood draws (98% specificity).



Conclusion:

The specificity of the HCV RNA by PCR at 1 and 3 months post HCV TX for pts with a CR is similar to the viral load at 6 months. Based on the results of this data, we feel that SVR can be made with assurance at 3 months post HCV TX. and perhaps as early as 1 month after the end of TX. There was no significant relationships between WBC or ALT levels in predicting SVR. "
http://hcvadvocate.org/news/reports/AASLD_2004/Posters_AASLD_2004.htm#A62

[copyman]

congrats. better then 95% that you are "cured". Sounds like it is time for you to start making plans for the rest of your "long" life !!!!

[sharon1730]

Thank you for your kind words, I am so sorry your treatment failed.  But from what I have read the new treatment is really successful on relapsers if you decide to re treat.

Thank you again and all the best to you.  

[sharon1730]

Wow, that sounds very encouraging, thank you for taking the time to post that.  It really gave the first realization that my 72 week treatment was worth.

Thanks again and hope all is well with you  :-)

[sharon1730]

Thank you copyman for your kind words... I think it is starting to sink in that maybe I have beaten this,  and yes I am going to start making plans for a very long life .....

Take care and all the best to you

[zazza]

So you did 72 weeks of treatment? And things are looking real good! Were you a slow responder then - detectable at week 12 but UND by week 24? What viral load did you have at week 12?

Congratulations on the good result so far!

[sharon1730]

Hi zazza, thank you for the congratulations.  No I was undetectable at week 12.  We did  a test at week 4 of treatment and it showed I was still detectable, and because my viral load was only 230,000 going in and I wasn't really getting any side effects we mutually agreed to up my ribavarin dosage to 1400 mg (I was on 1000mg for my weight) and extend treatment to 72 weeks.  As soon as we did this the side effects took there toll and I was undetectable at week 12 and remained that way.  I wanted to give it the best I had, but the last part of the treatment I did have to lower the dosing back to 1000 mg for the final few weeks.  I am really starting to feel better know, treatment seems like it is finally leaving my system.  Thanks again for your thoughts.

[newleaf09]

You really hit on it with your remark about planning for a very long life.  When I got my diagnosis work-up, I felt really sad that I was facing a dramatically shortened life span, when I come from very long-lived people.  I felt so cheated!  Just the thought of getting my true lifespan back was enough to make me leap into TX and stick with it.  To know that you'll get to meet your grandchildren and outlive your husband ( ha, ha, private joke) makes it worth it for me.

Proactive, thanks for posting poster link.  I bet we can find the details in the actual study somewhere.

[T246]

Sharon, great news and encouraging to those of us going through TX.

Well done, you deserve it.

Fingers crossed for a full 6mo report, but don't stress too much.  Great great great.
T

[YuK]

good job!

[zazza]

Interesting. You had a low viral load, below 400,000 IU/ml, just like I did. We who have a low viral load do have a good prognosis. As long as we treat long enough and aggressively enough, most of us SVR. I too have been entertaining thoughts about having a flatter decline towards UND and how that might impact the odds of SVR. I understand completely wanting to give it your all at the first round of tx. I too did 72 weeks. How sweet is not the sense of success after such a long tx!

[sharon1730]

Thank you, Yuk, I am keeping my fingers crossed for the 6 month SVR...