Shorter treatment duration for geno 2b

[undersiege]

Has anyone on this Forum treated for less than 24 weeeks and achieve SVR for geno 2b?

[meakea]

Oh, gosh, I answered the question based on it being for a curiosity value only.  The woman who stopped at 9 weeks would NOT have stopped at 9 weeks if she had been able to continue treatment.  She was extremely freak'n lucky that she remained SVR---kind of like winning a lottery.  I hope that no one bases their treatment length on that particular situation.  

[FlGuy]

If you are considering rolling the dice later in treatment (you siad your first shot will be 2/17) I would do threes specific thing in advance: 1) Make sure you are on weight-based riba (13 -15 mg per kg)  2) Start riba now - today   3) make sure you get a sensitive viral load test at week 2 and 4.  If not undetected by week four, I'd go the distance.  "Shooter, coming out"

[FlGuy]

One G2 member (Rifleman) , several years ago, did it in 12 weeks on the Peg/Riba combo.  I don't recall how quickly he got to undetected.  But, along the hepatitis highway are the mileposts of those 2's who relapsed after 24 too.  

The decision that you are considering is expressed well in Dirty Harry:

I know what you’re thinking: “Did he fire six shots, or only five?” Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I’ve kinda lost track myself. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: “Do I feel lucky?” Well do ya, punk?

[nygirl7]

If you quit early and dont SVR you're gonna be mighty pissed you didn't finish the few extra weeks. It's just not worth the risk of having to come back and do treatment again for 48 weeks the next time.

[undersiege]

how tough are your side effects.

[philbert58]

Yippee!!!! UNDER at wk-16  "BMS-790052 treatment geno1a"   Was close at wk12  but not under. Because of the great encouragement I received from others in study I decided to stay on till wk-16. At wk16 blood draw I received discouraging news from providers telling me pretty much prepare for the worse. I was starting to believe those last virons were too tough to beat. I had actually quit meds for a day before hearing of a friend who stayed the course a little longer and got the same great news as I. I'm ever gratefull to this gentleman for his positive encouragement, and all the others who stayed just a little longer and shared there good fortune. Good news could be right around the corner. It was for me and I thank God for hanging in just a little longer......

[James10500]

I was UND at 4 weeks my doc told me to finish the Tx, the full 24 weeks.  He seemed pretty confident it was the best thing to do.  He's got a very solid reputation and is the head of a major liver transplant center.  So I listened to him, not something I want to roll the dice with.

[undersiege]

I understand that, I'm jist doing a little research. I plan to follow the protocol.

[can-do-man]

To answer your question, yes i can think of two from this forum that did. mikkemoe (sp) and Rifleman.

Myself unless it was a very serious issue i would not risk it, 24 weeks are not to bad and the SVR rates are very high.

[desrt]

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[R Glass]

No comment because if someone relapsed because of my opinion, I don’t want it on my shoulders.

[Bill1954]

Yes, I know from anecdotal sources of one person with GT-2 that treated for 6.5 weeks in 2008 and is still virus negative to date. I wouldn’t count on that being consistently repeatable though.

The issue is addressed in the 2009 AASLD Practice Guidelines (page 1344); under the section on Rapid Viral Response (RVR)

http://www.hivandhepatitis.com/hep_c/images/hepatitisc.pdf

Good luck,

Bill

[desrt]

What anyone else has done is less relevant than what's right for *you*
.
IF you have good results on the IL28B test pre-tx and

IF you can talk your doc into doing some extra PCRs and you go undetected early,

then you *might* be able to get away with as little as 12 weeks.

[meakea]

I should add that her circumstance was very unusual.  The typical duration for geno 2 is 24 weeks.

[meakea]

A woman from another forum that I have come to know well, did 9 weeks of treatment for geno 2 and she had to stop due to severe sides effects.  That was 2 years ago and she is still SVR.

[undersiege]

Please subtract 1 E from weeks. thanks !!