more sensitive pcr

[cruelworld]

i went to labcorp a few months ago to get the more sensitive test
(down to 2) but i didnt do my homework and did not have the actual test code number
for their computer. they automatically just gave me the quantasure plus which only has a sensitivity down to 10.
what a disappointment. quantasure plus, this is their version of the heptimax except only half as sensitive  but same price range. in search of the better test i finally got through to someone at their office and they found the test
listing, its called NGI quantasure, code # 140639. its range is small, 2 million to 2. it is designed for tissue transplant testing. hepatitis patients and their docs dont normally ever request this. it is also twice as expensive a $714. if this exact code is not specified by your doc you will not get this test. maybe ill make it in this week
to get it and if im lucky i can say im more undetectable than you regular blokes!
in the practical world i dont know if this is justified or even meaningful but i know it would make me feel better so thats good enough by itself. it might also be interesting and revealing to see fluctuations between 4, 3, 2 and less then 2. especially towards the end of the shot cycle were the interferon has dissipated from our system. ive never seen anyone on the forum with these test results and they might show us things we can never see from the heptimax down to 5.

[cruelworld]

started at 1.6 mil    
week 9     1280
week 18        89
week 19        >5
interim weeks >5
week  51       >5

if no one on the board has ever taken this super sensitive test (ive never seen it)
then none of us have ever seen a vl of 3. have you ever seen this test at all? if so what was the result?
the argument can be made that if tissue transplant samples are required to be less than 2, then logically we would want that reading at the eot. is a viral load of 3 enough to cause relapse? an interesting question to say the least.

[Proactive]

I tend to agree with you on the sensitivity issue. I can see using the 615 or 50 for pretreatment vl...But IMO, let's say you are clear to 30 @ 4 weeks, what possible adjustments could be made to tx if say your actual vl was 29? Seems like there are dimishing returns at some point...Of course if insurance will cover it, I'd say get the best you can...But, I felt 10 was fine for me..

[jmjm530]

Well, you appear to have had an EVR (> two logs by week 12) and were UND by week 19 via sensitive TMA, so 72 weeks sound about right. And you're smart to keep testing during treatment using a sensitive test.

As far as "Quantasure" is concerned, no, we've had people use it here, quite a few in fact, but maybe not as many as Heptimax. And again, I've never seen a "3" although I'm sure it could happen. For you, it would be an excellent test to continue on with. But at the end of the day -- either Quantasure, or Heptimax or one of the Qual's should be fine at this point.

-- Jim

-- Jim

-- Jim

[jmjm530]

I'm assuming those arrows (">") are pointing in the wrong direction.

[Hepatitis Researcher]

The test to use if extreme sensitive UND status is desired, is the Labcorp test called HCV NGI ultraqual LC#140609. It has the same >2 iU cutoff, but is only a qual test. pos or neg. But that is really all you need at this point.It is of course cheaper than the NGI quantasure. This test is identical with the NGI ultraqual, it is just started with a NGI HCV Superquant and continued with Ultraqual, if below 40 IU, the limit of the NGI Superquant. You can trust me on these issues, since i am actually the inventor of all these NGI tests. But to be clear there is absolutely NFI of mine in these tests.


And Jim, if you are close to or at EOT, and you hand an even more sensitive test (than this above), and it would show you that you are not really UND with this, but UND with the less sensitive tests,
THEN
you could start thinking  of killing the remaining virions by extending UNTIL you finally are much more UND.
Remember your stance GONE, NONE, NADA, DEAD, NISCHTA ,KAPUTT implies that if you still have some real virus circulating, that your chance to become a relapser are actually HIGH.
All this sensitivity issues were nicely detailed in the Berg abstract that you recently posted, I was actually there and heard him.

So a very big decison  (to extend SOC, maybe to add Alinia, Vertex, etc) could be made at a critical time, when it might matter most  ( the virus is already very very low, but just not DEAD YET) and paid the most dividends to do so - to push a real UND.

[wyntre9]

I'm confused.  (so what else is new?)

Like Cruelworld, I have also been getting the Labcorp <10 test for the past 13 1/2 months.

Do you think I should request the HCV NGI ultraqual LC #14069 for the last few tests?  Like CW, I've been UND since week 17.

wyntre