American Association For The Study of Liver Disease

[mikesimon]

<A HREF="http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/495211/">ARTICLE</A>
Many subjects are addressed including 1)duration of treatment 2)marijuana and liver disease 3)persistance of virus after treatment. It's at www.medscape.com so you must be registered to view. Registration is free and well worth the time. Mike

[willing]

I've been away for a good while and trying to wean myself from my former obsession with hcv studies, but Mike and Ken's links to the Medscape summary of this year's AASLD meeting and to that excellent <a href="http://www.aidsinfonyc.org/tag/coinf/hcv2004/index.html">Swan and Raymond <a/> book have got me right back into those bad old habits. The <a href="http://www.hepcassoc.org/aasld2004.html#cannabis">Hezode</a> study may well be preliminary but there doesn't seem to be any reason to  discredit it . The other factors they found correlated with increased fibrosis have all been confirmed in other studies (inflammation, age at infection, alcohol intake,  hyperglycaemia) and the presence of a proposed mechanism (CB1 receptor upregulation) suggests the correlation may in fact be the cause. Looks like grass may well be headed the same way as alcohol, cocaine and donuts.. The <a href="http://www.mediwiss.de/Persistence%20Radkowski.htm">Radkowski</a> study seems to make a pretty strong argument for keeping "cured" in parentheses ("only 2 out 17 (SVR) patients were consistently HCV RNA negative in all analyzed compartments"). On the other hand, I thought the improvement in fibrosis in the pre/post bx's was pretty good news. As long as the post-tx immune response is sufficient to limit damage, does it matter if the virus persists? This is the same guy that first reported HCV RNA crossing the blood-brain barrier a couple of years ago, and now there's a growing pile of studies confirming cognitive effects. Interesting stuff - thanks for the posts.

[layla]

My goodness it's been a long time. Well I'm glad to see you here and hope you have been well. How are things with you? Have your sx gone? How long post tx are you now? Did you ever get a post PCR? Maybe you posted this stuff but I never saw it. I've wondered how you are more than once. Anyway, glad to hear from you. LL

[willing]

thanks for asking. I hope all's well with you and wish you all the best in your upcoming tests. For me it's coming around to a year post tx. I haven't yet tested and think I'll wait another year since I'm still enrolled in my very own clinical trial with a sample of 1 : "Is post-tx quality of life correlated with SVR?". At this point, I don't have a clue. Most days are good, some not so good. How much is age? I think the meds accelerate normal ageing. Lately I've been bothered by that old familiar upper-right quadrant discomfort, which is pretty hard to pin to age, so if I had to pick today I'd guess relapse, but who knows? There's really only two things I'm absolutely  sure of : it's good to be  alive and it's absolutely great to be off those meds!

[TnHepGuy_]

Very good to see that you've posted here once more. And good to hear that on balance it appears as if your post-tx trauma is relatively minimal.

I'd also like to take the opportunity to say thank you. When I first came to MedHelp nearly a year-and-a-half ago you, more so than anyone else, inspired me to dig for information, dig deeper for even more information, and then to dig deep inside of all that information. The end result being that I've gained knowledge that has proven greatly useful and beneficial during the course of my tx - and beyond.

I hope all is well as you continue on with your personal 'study-of-one'. And may God's blessings and mercy be upon you.


TnHepGuy

[DoubleDose]

Great to hear from you...I often wondered how things were going.  Please keep in touch with the forum...we miss your interaction.

By the way, the Radkowski study is very disturbing, as I interpret it, and reinforces my fears of 'HCV causing all the post-tx, SVR symptoms'  Why do so many SVR's continue to have fatigue, cognitive problems, arthritic issues, etc. etc.

Are other studies looking at the same issues as the Radkowski study??   What is the US HCV scientific community saying in response to the study???  Ignoring it???

How about Schering Plough, etc????  Bet you won't see them trying to replicate the results!!!

Regards,
DoubleDose

[DoubleDose]

Great to see you back as well.  Hopefully we can all help stimulate lots of questions and provide access to new research for all our members to share.  I think we need to constantly 'push' the medical and scientific communities to explore all the HCV issues as thoroughly as possible, AND to listen better to the people who have HCV, to understand where the real issues and questions lie.

Look at the Radkowski study linked by Willing (above), and think about how many doctors have summarily 'blown off' questions from patients regarding the possibility of HCV persisting in various organs AFTER the big SVR!  "You're cured son, go have a good life, and don't ask any more questions"...  "The interferon hangover will be gone in a month or two...maybe three... so go celebrate!"   "This is a liver infection, usually without any real symptoms"....etc.  OK, I see.  Sorry for asking such goofy questions doc!  

Anyway, welcome back.

DoubleDose