A newly available test is supposed to be able to tell you your chances of responding to certain HCV treatments.  Most insurance companies will probably not cover it  yet and we have not researched the cost  at this point. The question is, would you want to take this test? How much would you be willing to pay out of pocket?  How would this information affect your decision on whether to be treated or not?  Would you still go through treatment if it predicted your success rate was only 30%?

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100823006144/en/LabCorp-Enhances-HCV-Testing-Services-Launch-IL-28B

Final studies are not yet in, but so far it looks like Telaprevir has a better lead at 72% cure rate in 24 weeks.

http://www.minyanville.com/businessmarkets/articles/biotech-biotech-stocks-telaprevir-pegylated-interferon/8/10/2010/id/29543

See what Consumer Reports has to say about your HCV treatment options:

http://www.consumerreports.org/health/best-buy-drugs/hepatitis_c.htm

Research has begun on another new HCV drug taken orally. This is not interferon based. Cross your fingers!

http://www.sciencecodex.com/trials_begin_on_potent_new_hepatitis_c_drug

Duke University finds adding Telaprevir to standard peginterferon/ ribavirin treatment seems to help nonresponders.

http://www.wral.com/lifestyles/healthteam/story/7386301/

Dear readers,

A man in Pakistan has contacted me about his wife having more problems with infergen than she had with a previous treatment. Have any of you tried this drug and have any suggestions for her?

I found this website on liver cancer options  written up in the magazine “Liver Health Today”. It was started by WNBA player Lisa Leslie after she lost her stepfather to liver cancer.

http://www.mylivercanceroptions.com/mylivercanceroptions/pages.aspx?page=Home

Living donor exchange programs for liver transplants have now been successful in Hong Kong and South Korea. Because of the shortage of cadaver organs, partial liver transplants have become an option. “  However, many patients in need find that family members who are willing to donate organs have incompatible blood types. As a result, transplant centers worldwide are establishing coordinated donor exchange programs, where living donors are matched with medically acceptable and blood group compatible recipients in cases where the original intended recipient is not blood group compatible with their donor.”

Are there any hospitals in the U.S. that have such exchange programs? If not, should we be demanding them?

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/184316.php

Is Milk Thistle really an effective treatment for HCV? Does it at least keep HCV from progressing?  What do we really know about it? Like any other herbal medicine, there are the believers and the non-believers. I’m not going to tell you which way to go on this one! I’m not a doctor and haven’t studied the research, or lack thereof on this issue.  Personally, I use Glucosamine for arthritis. Europeans are on board with it, but Americans say it’s iffy. It works for me. I guess the main question on Milk Thistle is the same as for other herbal medicines. If it is not effective,  is it at least safe? What is your take on this issue?

I know of some people who won’t even get a biopsy to determine if their HCV has progressed because they absolutely refuse to go on the currently available  Interferon based treatments. For people like this, wouldn’t it be ok to try Milk Thistle or would this give them a false sense of hope and mask what is really happening to their liver?

Here are a couple recent articles on Milk Thistle you might find interesting:

hepatitis – http://hepatitis-hepatitis.blogspot.com/

http://www.hepatitis-central.com/mt/

Please comment!

Since not enough livers from cadavers are available, living donors have stepped up and filled the need. Here is an excerpt from the referenced article:

“The Rise in Living Donors

Just over a decade ago, this gift of life between two close friends would have been impossible. Partial organ transplants between adults were unheard of: People’s immune systems typically rejected organs from nonrelatives, and doctors, for the most part, considered such operations not only risky but unethical. But today, Michael could be the poster boy for a trend that’s changing the course of transplant medicine in the United States. There are more living donors today than deceased ones. And many of the living donors are unrelated to the patient in need; sometimes they don’t even know them.

“Illustrating the altruistic nature of family, friends and even strangers, living donation rates have steadily increased. This increase has helped bring awareness to the critical shortage of organs.” says Annie Moore, spokesperson for the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the nation’s organ clearinghouse that matches donors to recipients. Consider the numbers: There were 6,618 live donors in 2002, a 230% increase over 1989, according to UNOS. By comparison, there were 6187 deceased donors, people who have died, often in the prime of life in an accident. Living kidney donors now account for nearly 52% of all kidney donors and the number of living donor liver transplants has doubled since 1999, according to UNOS.

Clearly attitudes are changing. A survey in 2000 by the National Kidney Foundation showed that 90% of Americans say they would consider donating a kidney to a family member while alive. That same survey reported that one in four Americans would consider donating a kidney to a stranger. Indeed, UNOS reports that living donors unrelated to the patients increased tenfold between 1992 and 2001.”

To read the entire article see:

http://men.webmd.com/features/between-friends-living-donors