Expected Results of Hepatitis C Treatment
Studies have shown that when taking combination therapy, between 40 and 80 percent of people have a successful response to treatment for
hepatitis C, called a sustained virological response (SVR). A sustained response means that no
hepatitis C virus RNA can be detected in your blood six months after finishing the treatment.
It is important to know that several factors can affect a response to
hepatitis C treatment. An important factor is the genotype of the virus causing your infection. People with genotype 1 generally respond less well to combination therapy than people with other genotypes. On average, up to 50 percent of people with genotype 1 will have a sustained response to treatment. In comparison, the rate of successful treatment for people with other genotypes is about 75 to 80 percent.
Other factors beside genotype will also affect the success of your treatment. These include:
- The amount of virus in your body
- How long you have had the hepatitis C virus (HCV)
- The amount of damage already done to your liver.
People with a low level of virus and those with very little scarring on the liver before treatment begins tend to respond better to hepatitis C treatment. However, because every situation is different, your response to the different treatments will depend on several of these factors.
Additional Information About Hepatitis C Treatment
Before you can begin hepatitis C treatment with peginterferon and ribavirin, your healthcare provider will need to do a few blood tests. These tests will help your doctor determine the levels of certain substances in your blood. Because the medications used to treat hepatitis C do have side effects, you will continue to have blood tests done throughout your treatment. If your blood test levels change too much, your treatment program may need to be modified.
Within several months of beginning the combination therapy, your healthcare provider will be able to tell you whether the hepatitis C treatment is working. This is done with the viral RNA blood test. This same test was used to determine whether you had the hepatitis C virus in your body and how much of it was there. If the treatment is working, the amount of virus RNA in your blood will have gone down. If your treatment is not working, the amount of RNA that was originally found will stay the same or even increase.
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