I'll be honest, I've never heard of the platelet smear, but have had platelets labs drawn. Somebody will know.
I've been reading and lurking and just wanted to jump on and say bravo for finishing 5 weeks! Hang in there. I've seen some who did not get undetected until week 8 who cleared. It's lowered, and that is fabulous news!
xo Karen:)
Could you mean 'blood smear' (Peripheral Blood Smear).
I kind of skimmed your posts and see that you are Geno 3 and were stage 2 around ten years ago but must have missed your recent stage of fibrosis. Also it might help others taper a response based on your particulars if you post some of the values from your last set of labs. I am supposing you had baseline labs and those along with the labs you just had might help. Namely the values from your CBC (complete blood count) such as platelets, Prothrombin time PT) (how your blood is clotting) and so on. Baseline VL & current VL. Changes in VL often reveal how well or rapidly you are responding to the meds.
Since you mentioned platelets it sounds like your doctor might want to evaluate your platelet function. There could be other reasons and like I said it is difficult to ascertain exactly why without more info (baseline and current platelet values).
There are lots of people on here with experience and insight who will chime in. Meanwhile here is a older thread related to blood smear
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Hepatitis-C/Platelet-mess-again/show/1651489
You must be anxious to get the actual report. I don't know enough about this stuff to give you a worthwhile comment on still being detectable @ wk 4. My VL was 1.7 mill @ wk 4 but my Doctor said it was good progress because it dropped 4 log (whatever that means). Then it cleared by wk 12.
What was your VL before you started tx?
I thought the first 3 or 4 wks were the worst for feeling icky and adjusting to the treatment. Many have suggested be proactive in making inquiries and asking questions of your doctor.
Hi, I had to have a platelet smear due to my platelets clumping to the point they couldn't get an actual reading and they needed an idea of where I might be. Since there may be other reasons for ordering it good idea that you will ask when you see your dr.
"Plat smear" represents a subjective estimation of platelet numbers made during examination of the stained blood film. This estimate takes into account the size and number of platelet clumps and can provide information on platelet numbers even when an accurate manual or automated count cannot be obtained due to platelet clumping.
Best, Linda
Great that you are having a positive response, and your viral load is dropping. I didn't reach RVR at wk4 either, still waiting for my wk8 labs.
I always request a hard copy of my labs, so I can review later and google and ask questions here. . . Never fails you leave the office and all kinds of questions come up. Do you think your doc will print a copy for you?
I had that platelet clumping thing for several weeks during tx. I didn't know what test they finally used to get a good reading. Hope you're hanging in there.. .
My viral load is 80 million . Hepc geno 1 . They ate putting off tx till Dec 2014. Is my viral load way above every one else. Sounds like Chicago is already able to get sofobivir. I don't think they should be waiting till December
2013.. I've had no tx, and one liver enzyme up to 40 was a 20. I've had this since 2003.
You should start a new thread. Just click the post a question stamp at the top of the page. Give it a name like "High Viral Load" and write your concerns. You should get a lot of helpful advice.