Hepatitis C Support Group
Hepatitis C is a blood-borne viral disease which can cause liver inflammation, fibrosis, cirrhosis and liver cancer. The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is spread by blood-to-blood contact with an infected person's blood. Many people with HCV infection have no symptoms and are unaware of the need to seek treatment. Hepatitis C infects an estimated 150-200 million people worldwide.
had to stop tx. stage 1 grade 2 geno 2 vl.over six hundred mil. now i'm having remorse and questioning whether I should have even tried tx! grade means what? Thank you! I hope I made sense.
so sorry to hear your feeling like this. i just don't know what to say cause not sure what's upsetting you the most
lots of hugs, q
I am geno 2 also. 3x's thru tx and no response. vl is up there like yours for years. I questioned whether or not I should have ever subjected myself to all of that hell many times. Still have damage from
doing it. You did it, so there's no going back. That's what I finally realized, and just let the chips fall where they may. I'm stage 4/grade 4 with cirrhosis. So you're doing great in that area!
*HUGS*
Josi
Who decided for you to quit tx? You or your dr, and for what reasons?
At week 6, your body has barely had much chance to adjust to tx, and you did not mention if your viral load was checked again, so the decision to quit does not seem to be based on a viral load that has not decreased or a viral load that has gone up.
Tx is quite rough in the beginning for many people but there are several things that can be done to lessen any sides you are having.
There are many treatments that are very hard to do, but the choices are suffer through tx or suffer the consequences of getting sicker. In this case, your liver will not get better on its own. The virus will continue on its path to destroying your liver.
The stage and grade would have been found from your biopsy. These numbers matter; they tell you how damaged your liver is right now. The viral load means absolutely nothing unless you are on tx. Your viral load could be 6, 60 or 600 million; none of that matters until you do tx. Then, all you want to see is that number decrease. Contact your dr and ask for your stage and grade numbers.
Unless you stopped tx at your dr's advice, I would question why you stopped tx.
Unless, you had major complications I would consider re-doing tx.
Why did you have to stop early? What were your side effect issues?
We need more info to really give you input.
The grade means how much damage your liver has: Grade 0 to 4 with 4 being the worst. Yours is in the middle.
It is the geno type with the highest success percentage. I know for me I would have had far greater regrets if I hadn't at least tried treatment.
Grade is the inflammation.
The liver biopsy is the best test we have today for finding out
if the liver is healthy or damaged. After the biopsy is performed, a
medical expert will review the tiny piece of liver tissue and
write a report on the health of the liver.
Grading and Staging
There are a couple of ways to read a liver biopsy. The most
common scoring methods are known as the Metavir and the
Knodell Score. It is important to remember that the size of the
piece of liver taken at biopsy can affect the report. The knowledge
of the doctor reading the biopsy is also important.
Grading and Staging
There are a couple of ways to read a liver biopsy. The most
common scoring methods are known as the Metavir and the
Knodell Score. It is important to remember that the size of the
piece of liver taken at biopsy can affect the report. The knowledge
of the doctor reading the biopsy is also important.
Metavir
The Metavir scoring system was set up just for patients with hepatitis C. The scoring uses both a grade and a stage system. The grade tells you about the activity or amount of swelling and irritation (inflammation). The stage tells you the amount of fibrosis
or scarring.
The grade is given a number based on the amount of inflammation. This is usually scored from 0-4. An 0 is no activity, a 2 is moderate activity, and 3 or 4 are severe activity.
The amount of inflammation is important because it may lead to
eventual scarring or damage.
The fibrosis score is also assigned a number from 0-4:
0 = no scarring
1 = minimal scarring
2 = scarring has occurred and is inside the areas of
the liver including blood vessels
3 = bridging fibrosis (the fibrosis is spreading and
connecting to other areas that contain fibrosis)
4 = cirrhosis or advanced scarring of the liver
Knodell
The Knodell score or HAI (histologic activity index) is also commonly used to stage liver disease. It is a bit more complex a process than using the Metavir score. But some experts believe that it is a better at finding how much liver inflammation and damage are present. It has four different numbers that make up a single score. The addition of these numbers tells the amount of inflammation in the liver:
0 = no inflammation
1-4 = minimal inflammation
5-8 = mild inflammation
9-12 = moderate inflammation
13-18 = marked inflammation
The fourth part of the score deals with the amount of scarring in
the liver and is scored from 0 (no scarring) to 4 (extensive scarring
or cirrhosis).
The report will be sent to the doctor to review and discuss with a patient to help make the best possible healthcare decisions
The stage is the current amount of damage and you don't have much control of what's happened so far.
The grade is the inflammation that that is what you DO have control over to a certain extent. Like any inflammation, you can take actions that lessen the inflammation and that is a good thing to do to slow down the liver damage
The HAI measurement is much more specific, being based on a max of 18. If someone says I am a 3 out of 18, I feel alot better than being told I am a 1 of 4.