Hi,
I'd like to solicit some opinion/comment on my HepDoc's decision to stop treatment.
I'm a white male, 51, genotype 1a, infected over 30 years, probable early cirrhosis (last biopsy was 3/3, about 3yr ago). This is my third go-round at anti-viral treatment.
Starting with the Alinia trial, I did 8 weeks of Pegasys/Riba. I left the trial (viral load not decreasing fast enough), and switched (with no break) to daily Infergen/Riba (15mcg / 1400 mg.) I've kept this up for 31 weeks now. I've been on Procrit 40,000 since week 12 of the Infergen, and have had two transfusions over the course.
My viral load started at 35,000,000 and has dropped steadily the entire time on treatment. I've had monthly PCRs, every 2 weeks for the last two months.
So now my viral load is 153 IU/ml. Two weeks ago, it was 550. I've never had a viral load number larger than the previous one.
My doc tells me that since I'm not UND at over 24 weeks, I should stop.
I recognize this is a standard protocol, and the odds of SVR at this point are very low, it seems like I should continue, for another month or so, to see if I can get to UND. Presumably, I would then complete an additional 48 weeks.
Got to get to UND before SVR, and I'm so close...
This is a link to the Arase study, which, while a very small sample size, does seem to support the notion that it is possible to attain SVR after 24 weeks.
Thank you.