Hep c test

[someone]

Does anyone understand what it means when a test says: under standard range it says undetected, then under value it says 2

[Mugwump]

The test cannot detect virus that is present in numbers less than a specified count per sample.  Which is termed as "LLOQ" (lower limit of quantification) per sample.


Because the test cannot detect numbers lower than a certain amount you are considered undetected. Some tests are 15 LLOQ some are 12 but either way what is known is that if you have low a level of virus below the LLOQ then chances are you do not have the virus in your blood stream. Unless you have a strain of the virus that has resistance chances are when you are free from the virus in the blood for more than 6 months then there are no virus left to replicate.


Today we wait for 12 weeks post treatment before we are certain that we are cured. Usually if there is a viral load it will spike up to levels which will be detected after a very short period of time. It is highly unusual to have a relapse if you test undetected consecutively over a 3 month period. So this is the new standard.


The older standard was 6 months without a a detectable viral load. The reason for this is that the new direct acting antivirals attack the virus in the liver cells and not just the blood stream with the aid of only the immune system to fight the infection in the liver so they are much more effective over a shorter period of time than interferon based therapies.


Cheers
Eric

[dragonslayer]

Im a little confused by the result posted above....  I assume 'Standard Range'  in the post is whats considered 'normal' for that test which would be 'Undetected'.   What confuses me is the value of 2.  I dont know of any tests that have a LLOQ currently below 12, so how does the test measure a value as low as 2?

[someone]

Thanks Eric!   

Dragonslayer, I still don't quite get the value of 2 either. Some of that testing is a bit confusing. And it almost seems as if it shouldn't be.

[Lynn K]

Is there anyway you could either copy and paste the result or type exactly what the slip says?

Here is a copy paste of a test result of mine before I treated for reference

Component Results          Value           Std Range
HCV RNA RT-PCR, QT       2422260      See Notes
HCV LOG 10                       6.384          See Notes
HCV QNT TEST INFO       See Below    See Notes

The quantitative range of the assay is 15 IU/mL to 100 million IU/mL
using COBAS(R) TaqMan(R) HCV test, v 2.0. The limit of detection (LOD)
and lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) for this assay is 15 IU/mL.
Results less than the quantitative range of the assay will be reported
as "HCV RNA detected, less than 15 IU/mL".
Result status: Final result