Are 6 week post treatment labs worth it?

[steven_myers]

Hey guys, I hope everyone is doing well. I finished up Harvoni on January the 8th and my labs from the following day came back undetected. They also showed undetected at 6 weeks in. My question is whether you think 6 weeks labs are worth doing for peace of mind?

[gnatcatcher]

No, I don't. Twelve weeks after the end of treatment is the test that counts: if you're undetected then, you're considered cured. Even if you're loaded with $ and are anxious, it's just an extra set of labs to sweat over while you wait for results. You already know the odds of staying undetected are overwhelmingly in your favor.

Full disclosure: by this point in my life, I've had enough major medical problems that I'm surprised I'm still around. Somewhere along the line, my attitude became, "If the other shoe drops, I'll deal with it then; meanwhile, I've got a life to live."

If this is your first (and hopefully only) major medical "adventure," then you're unlikely to see things that way, so do whatever your wallet and personality dictate.

Congrats on being undetected since week 6 (or earlier).

Gnatty

[steven_myers]

Thanks Gnatty. I agree with your perspective, as this is not my first major medical "adventure". Almost loosing my life in a car accident 5 years ago helped me to adopt a similar outlook. Thanks for the reminder I think I will just sit back and wait for the 12 week post labs to roll around!

Steven

[Lynn K]

While the test at 4 weeks post is about 98.5% predictive of cure it is good to see. So that is the value knowing you are almost there in that most who relapse will do so by 4 weeks post.

For me it would have been some what informative as I relapsed after taking sovaldi and olysio for 12 weeks and being not detected at EOT but later finding at 12 weeks I had relapsed. On the other hand had I known then at 4 weeks post I had relapsed I would still have had to wait until Harvoni had been approved which was exactly what happened.

I was tested at 4 weeks post after taking Harvoni for 24 weeks and ribavirin for 15 weeks but really that because of my treatment history.

So the 4 weeks post will make you feel good but the test that matters is the 12 week post as  you know

Good luck to you and wishing you SVR12