ALT is reduced to 21. HCV still detected via PCR

[Koolman88]

dear all,

I had my 5th pegasys last week and tested for PCR but it is still detected. My alt reduced from 24 to 21. my nutrophils have gone down to 28%. any advise as i am worried. My intial viral load was 632000 and I just did qualitative PCR. any advise?

[copyman]

agree with the others ab out getting a QUANTitative pcr test . your alt has nothing to do with how you are responding to treatment.
I would do PCR weekly to see exactly when you become undectable then make a decision on extending treatment.

Best of luck

[Trinity4]

632,000 IU/mL is a fairly low viral load but it's not all about starting viral load it's about your immune system's response to the interferon and ribavirin.  You're a genotype 3 which requires 24 weeks of treatment.  Ideally, geno 3's want to see UND at 4 weeks since treatment duration is shorter.  As mentioned above you need to have a quantitative PCR done which will give you a viral load and then you'll know exactly how you are responding to treatment.  

Trinity

[Diane12855]

My VL was over 6 mil before tx. What it starts as isn't nearly as important as what it is during tx. That is how they tell if you are responding to the tx.

Diane

[Koolman88]

is 632,000 too much before treament?

[Bali05]

you need to know your VL to determine response
especially this early
I would run a quantative PCR asap