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Yeah sorry i can’t add anything to what your test was but in agreement with Bloot. When I went for my 1st appointment at the public hospital clinic my GP, at that time, sent me off for full blood work including Viral Load. Gave me copies to take to the Specialist and when he looked at that page VL result, he says, ‘I don’t know what that’s for it’s useless!’ He was actually annoyed! I was impressed my Dr had ran everything. After that they always made me get my blood done at the hospital and wouldn’t send copies to my DR for either of us to see!
So 2b are actually paying out of pocket for these? I know your healthcare system is very different to ours. Be pretty PO’d if I was
Hope you get it sorted, Good Luck!
QLD Australia ☀️
G3a HCV 35 yrs Tx naive
Started Sof/Dac 13/01/16Dec ’15
AST 70
ALT 89
GGT 124
Fibroscore 8.5
F1-F2
13 Feb’16 VL UND
AST 24
ALT 26
GGT 50HHi all,
My understanding of quantitative viral load testing is that while pretreatment levels were considered somewhat indicative of likely response under the old interferon treatments they are much less relevant with the new DAAs. They are still useful while monitoring treatment to see whether you are responding quickly but mostly at a “comfort” level with the real tests being qualitative at EOT and most importantly SVRxx. (And obviously important for RVR testing such as Dr James was recently performing with the Sof/Dac tablets to show they were as effective as the seperate APIs)
When writing my scrip and 4 week monitoring tests my specialist checked my records and said something to the effect “oh, we don’t have a current VL. No matter, we know from previously that it will be high so let’s just see where it goes at 4 weeks”. And given that Dr James says I am only entitled to 2 freebies per year I can understand that approach because it means I am still entitled to another one later if 4 wk isn’t UND.
However that doesn’t really help you 2b with your expectation that you would get a 4wk VL result and the ease of mind that a good result would give. Keep pushing them for what you requested and they agreed to at the time. And keep pushing your doctor to support you in managing your health by explaining to you in plain English what your results mean. And probably interceding on your behalf with the testing company if that is the U.S. approach like it is in Australia.
G3a since ’78 – Dx ’12 – F4 (2xHCC)
24wk Tx – PEG/Riba/Dac 2013 relapsed
24wk Tx – Generic Sof/Dac/Riba 2015/16 relapsed
16wk Tx – 12/01/17 -> 03/05/17 NS3/NS5a + Generic Sof
SVR7 – 22/06/17 UND
SRV12 – 27/07/17 UND
SVR24 – 26/10/17 UND
Hi Lynn,
I suspect that it will be a 12 month rolling calendar for the tests but you will still be entitled to 4 qualitative tests as explained by Dr James below. So you won’t know the amount of RNA on those but if it’s UNDetected then they can’t count it anyway. So once you achieve UND that will be the result that you are given for either test so no point to to doing the qauntitative test then.
In the worst case that you still have significant load at 4 weeks then you could always do one at your own expense (under $200) at 8 weeks but as the Dr. says, all the 12 week results have been UND so far anyway.
http://fixhepc.com/forum/experts-corner/364-viral-load-quantitative-vs-qualitative.html
G3a since ’78 – Dx ’12 – F4 (2xHCC)
24wk Tx – PEG/Riba/Dac 2013 relapsed
24wk Tx – Generic Sof/Dac/Riba 2015/16 relapsed
16wk Tx – 12/01/17 -> 03/05/17 NS3/NS5a + Generic Sof
SVR7 – 22/06/17 UND
SRV12 – 27/07/17 UND
SVR24 – 26/10/17 UND
Thanks GAJ although I’m not clear on the difference between the two tests…..I am assuming that the Viral Load test my Doctor has asked for will be the one that hopefully comes back “UND”……not medically minded I’m afraid…I’m sure my GP knows what he is doing
hmy:
Ah, okay.
Qualitative – just tests whether RNA is present or not. (Yes/No?)
Quantitative – tests whether RNA is present and if so measures how much. (Yes/No? + How much?)
If you have already had an UNDetected/No result then there is no point trying to count how much because the answer is “none”. So you just need the Qualitative from then on to make sure it hasn’t come back. And assuming you keep getting that UNDetected result post treatment then at 24 weeks after finishing treatment you are considered cured with almost zero chance of it coming back. As the Doc says “the Gold standard”!
But so far even those who still had some RNA detected at 4 weeks have all been UNDetected at 12 weeks. Which is what you want.
G3a since ’78 – Dx ’12 – F4 (2xHCC)
24wk Tx – PEG/Riba/Dac 2013 relapsed
24wk Tx – Generic Sof/Dac/Riba 2015/16 relapsed
16wk Tx – 12/01/17 -> 03/05/17 NS3/NS5a + Generic Sof
SVR7 – 22/06/17 UND
SRV12 – 27/07/17 UND
SVR24 – 26/10/17 UND
Hey 2b, how long sgo did you get the blood drawn?
The reason I ask is that I had mine drawn last Tuesday. I checked the Patient Portal a couple days later and I could see every test ordered and that results weren’t in yet. I checked again later, late night Thursday I believe, and the results were in, except the Quantitative test, which was not showing up at all. (It had been there earlier.)
Checked again Friday and no change so I called the clinic. Got a call back a couple hours later, was told that the Quantitative was sent out so would take longer, expect it on Monday.
Looked online late Sunday night.
Both of my providers, one in Washington State and the other in part of America’s third world … western North Dakota … have online patient access to all reports, tests, etc. If anyone out there in a first world country does not have full, complete online access to all of your own records you should be raising hell. This isn’t 1990.
Congratulations, klhilde!
Great result, you must be very happy.
(Quick result on VL test compared to Aust. Ours can take a week and a half. I’ve been told I will be very, very lucky if my 16th Dec test result is available pre Xmas)
G3a since ’78 – Dx ’12 – F4 (2xHCC)
24wk Tx – PEG/Riba/Dac 2013 relapsed
24wk Tx – Generic Sof/Dac/Riba 2015/16 relapsed
16wk Tx – 12/01/17 -> 03/05/17 NS3/NS5a + Generic Sof
SVR7 – 22/06/17 UND
SRV12 – 27/07/17 UND
SVR24 – 26/10/17 UND
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