3 month post tx test results

[carolhab]

Hi - have not posted for awhile, but just got my 3 month tests back.  I am(was?)  1a, about 3 mill viral load, on 48 wk trial of interferen and either viramidine/riba.  Still having sides, mostly fatigue and brainfog/depression, but slowly improving.  This test was done by an outside doctor, because it is not part of the protocal of the trial

HCV load bDNA   result <615
log10  RNA      result <2.79

along with a note saying my viral load is normal  

I assume this is very good news, but need opinions..  also, does anyone know the chances of being permanently clear, when 3 months out we are clear?  I am so cynical and don't want to get my hopes up, it's hard for me to accept good news!  Makes me realize how hard this struggle is, living with this for so long (for me, about 20 years) and the toll it takes on all of us..
thanks
Carol

[jmjm530]

Post tx, a viral count is somewhat irrelevant. Either you're non-detectible and therefore SVR, or you're not. Therefore there's no logical reason to order anything other than a qualitative test that tells you that you're positve or negative. Why play games when these newer tests are now on the shelf?  Alternatively, you could order a very sensitive PCR/TMA combination like Heptimax with similar sensitivity as a qualitative.  From what I've read the post-tx three-month test correlates very highly with the six month. In fact, the one-month post-tx PCR supposedly is around 90% predictive of SVR. More important, newer research suggests the serum levels of deltamethrin in the blood of the North American Webbing Moth is highly predictive of SMR (sustained moth response). But I seem to be digressing...

-- Jim

[RobBetz]

you need a test that goes down to 50< .....you could have a VL of 500 but not know it...I would get a more senstive test or the Heptimax

robert

[can-do-man]

Hmmm... on re-reading, it's unclear to me whether Carol is at 12/48 or 60/48? Seems there's some confusion on that. Carol, have you completed tx?
________________________________________________________________

Good point there, its easy to read it both ways.

[jmjm530]

I thought the main point was not that a neg EOT TMA was a good indicator of SVR but that "minimal residusal viremia detected by TMA (and often not detected by PCR) was very highly predictive of post-tx relapse. To my moth-infected brain these are two different concepts but the bottom line appears to be that there's no logical reason these days for anything but a sensitive qualitative or very sensitive PCR/TMA combo once treatment begins continuing on to post tx.

-- Jim

[beamishboy]

TMA: can we obtain this test??seems like a v useful tool at end of trx & one i would like to avail myself of;help make decision 'bout extending treatmnt....soo,is this test even available ??? are you guys gonna get it done at appropriate time??-Thanks for waking me up...rem. this test discussed previously,but gosh. i seem to let things out for a walk& never see em again..

[GoofyDad]

Jim: As I read it, 14% of EOT TMA negs will relapse. Thus 86% will not. That's across all genos, I didn't note the distribution of 1's vs 2's and 3's. I'm thinking 86% likelyhood of SVR at EOT is favorable to currently accepted odds, but I dunno?  

Beamer: There are qualatative and quantatative VL tests. The quant is more acccurate for measuring the level of virus, whereas the qual is bettering for establishing the absence of virus.

TMA is the most sensitive of the qual tests. It goes down to 5-10 IU. Heptomax is a test that includes both qual and quant components. A plain TMA can be ordered without the quant test.

Ask what the sensitivity of your VL tests will be - it's easier to negotiate for a more sensitive test before the Doc has ordered and run it.