stages

[confused1958]

I've only had one appointment with gastro. so I'm quite new at understanding terminology.  What are "stages" and how are they determined.  Is there a success rate of remission related to these stages?  I have 1a

[newleaf09]

The numbers won't mean much at first but will make sense later.  Make a graph and it will tell the story of both your TX and your liver disease.

An average of response for genotype 1's is around 50%, but that's just an average.  There are 3 kinds of responders: full response to interferon, partial and null reponse.  At the 2009 AASLD liver meeting, it was said that a genetic test will be available this year to help predict which kind of responder you may be.  Full response has around 93% cure rate, null response around 18% and partial response floats in the middle, probably around 50%. Of course the numbers all hinge on taking the meds steadily and on time.

In 2011, a third drug, a protease inhibitor (there are 2, teleprevir and boceprevir) will be approved by the US's FDA and will dramatically improve response rates for all types of responders.  The protease inhibitor will be added to SOC and will reduce the TX time period for those who respond well to it.  The Janis & friends site Bill mentioned has information on all of this, as well.

[IMstacie]

Hi and welcome.  Since you are just beginning your appointments I wanted to mention to get a copy and keep a file of all your lab results.  Even if you don't understand them at first.  It will help you keep track plus if you have questions, you will have the data in front of you instead of guessing

Good luck to you.

[Bill1954]

You’ll find that the majority of pathology reports (at least in the U.S.) currently use the ‘Metavir’ scale; this stages liver disease into fibrosis stages 0 through 4, with stage 4 indicating cirrhosis. There are other ways of describing progression, but the Metavir should be enough for the purposes discussed here.

Inflammation is described as ‘grade’, and can be described from 0-4, I believe.

So a person might have grade A2, stage 3 liver disease, for instance.

A good webpage for more info on this is here:

http://janis7hepc.com/home8.htm

Scroll down through that page, and it should explain quite a bit in detail. Be sure to go to their home page, and save the site to favorites for future reference.

Yes, a higher treatment-related success is expected when liver damage is lower; those with cirrhosis will have more difficulty in achieving long-term viral eradication.

Good luck, and welcome to the group—

Bill