On 30 Jan 2007 17:38:47 -0800, "john" <otk355@hotmail.com>, in message
ID <1170207527.502802.153940@q2g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>, in the
newsgroup alt.support.hepatitis-c wrote:

I suppose it depends on the condition of your liver really.  If there
is little damage then maintenance is probably overkill - but I doubt
they would suggest maintenance unless your liver has a fair bit of
damage.
Sorry to hear your tx didn't work.

Hi John.  I'm very sorry that you relapsed.  I relapsed 3 months after my
first round of tx.  Geno 1b, 60 weeks of IFN/Riba.  Every day I think
about whether or not I should re-treat, or whether I should pursue
maintenance interferon therapy.  So far I have not found any evidence that
maintenance IFN is helpful, though there may be some evidence out there
somewhere.  Here are the words
of Doctor Cecil (hepatitisdoctor.com),  and the results of a new study I
found on pubmed.gov  on long-term IFN tx for cirrhotics.  Have a look at
them.  Dr. Cecil isn't crazy about maintenance therapy and though the new
study results are very difficult to interpret, but the bottom line is that
2 years of maintenance  IFN maintenance did not " significantly" improve
survival of cirrhotics.  

Dr. Cecil's website:
"Should you take maintenance interferon if you are a nonresponder?"
http://www.hepatitisdoctor.com/maint-inf.htm

Effect of Prolonged Interferon Therapy on the Outcome of Hepatitis C
Virus-Related Cirrhosis
"Conclusion...This randomized controlled trial showed that a 2-year course
of IFN has little or no impact on complication-free survival in patients
with high-risk compensated HCV cirrhosis."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=Abstra
ctPlus&list_uids=17261383&query_hl=2&itool=pubmed_docsum

For myself,  I have chosen to wait until a third combo drug (VX950?)
Becomes available, rather than start now with infergen, because I don't
want to relapse again, thereby  propagating an even more resistant strain
of the virus.  Treatments that end in relapse may mean you have developed
a population of resistant virus.  If I went through an Infergen/Riba tx
and relapsed again, I might have an impossibly resistant group of bugs to
deal with when VX950 becomes available. I believe that my liver is in good
enough condition that I can afford to wait (grade2/stage1, normal LFTs).  
If anybody out there disagrees, please say so, because I am winging it
just like the rest of us.

So John if I were you I would see what Cornell has to offer.  

Best Luck
Kathy