All I can tell you my brother is I seen my transplant Doctor last month and he told me that no NEW treatment will be availible until 2012!!! I belive him befor I belive any new bullshit articals that come/out saying that they have new breakthroughs in Treaments. But please do carry on about new medical stuff.Im so happy that your are taking care of your woman about what she has to face. I commend you all the way brother!!!! She's really gonna need you during treatment!!!!!!! Love and Respects John

OK now I am going to say that it would be wise to get the biopsy. Why?
Because she may not have any liver damage and so she could afford to wait a bit longer before doing tx.

This virus seems to be pretty weird. Some people have the virus for decades and when they find out and have a biopsy, they discover that they have literally no liver damage and no inflammation. They really don't have to do tx if they choose to wait.
The length of time that you have had the virus does not equate to the amount of damage.

Doing tx can sometimes aggravate other medical issues and there are no guarantees that tx will clear the virus for good, so if she has a biopsy and the results come back with stage/grade values around 0 or 1, she can wait.
Too often, people freak and just jump into doing tx without gathering all the info about themselves.
I did tx even though I had no damage and very little inflammation because I did not want to wait until I was too old and had too many other health issues to be able to do tx. Even though I relapsed, I don't regret my decision because I gave my liver a rest after 30 yrs with the virus, even if I was clear for only 10months or so.

Wish her luck in whatever she decides, but tell her that if she can wait and get the biopsy done first, it will let her know what is the real condition of her liver. It's kind of important.

Thank you jestblue and all the others. Your advice and information is always great!!!! I will talk with her tonight about it. She is kind of the person who just wants to get rid of it and doesn't care what her liver condition is until after the treatment. I think I can slowly convince her though! Hopefully! lol

Seems judging by the infor. Ive received,the earlier the better.Would talk to your Dr.and together decide whats best.Also talk to more than oneDr. find one that specializes in hep.cKnowledge is power.Personaly think the liver biopsy is agood idea,even if it means waiting awhile.(Im having one in a week)Anything thats going to help the Dr. give you the best treatment Im in favore of,make sense?Know how confusing things can get dealing with this miserable disease.Gather as much info. as possible,pray about it and go from there.Do you know how you got it? I dont,possibly from my x who was a needle user before I met him.Best Wishes to you and your girlfriend.You have your age in your favore. God Bless.valir

Yeah, I've only heard ther earlier the better in terms of both length of infection and age. If your liver is in good nick you stand a better chance too.

Do you have to pay for tx and could you afford more than one go, what genotype do you have and what are the chances of tx succeeding? Think about those things, and if there's nothing against, I'd go for it. Remember tho' it can be awful -still getting over mine 2 years down the line and there are no guarantees.

I forgot to add a bit more, but in the other direction.
If she finds in the biopsy that she has a high stage/grade, numbers like 3 or 4, it is vital that she does tx to get rid of the virus.
This knowledge is especially important because if she does tx and relapses, you really won't know if you have time to wait before trying again, or need to push to redo tx or try some other form of tx.
Really try to get her to have the biopsy because once she has done tx, if she then wants to have a biopsy, they may say why now?

Consider all that is being said by your friends here. I could have started tx in 1995 on my dr recommendation, though liver biop showed no damage then. I was working to support a family of 5 and could not risk side effects causing me to lose my job. I told my doc "no to treatments for now" He asked why. I said "My body, my choice" Anyway, in those 12 years that followed, I received promotions and raises, benefits etc. Had I started tx then, I think I would have missed all the good job benefits, lots of great memories made in those 12 years also. (Travel, great vacations with kids and grandkids, etc).
Now I'm doing tx because I'm semi retired and have the time. My situation changed this year and that is why I'm doing tx. However, if I had same diagnosis as 1995 about my liver, I probably would not do tx.
So you see my friend, listen to all the advice posted here, then make a very educated decision about your mate.
Whatever you decide, may God bless and keep you both.