Has anyone seen this article posted on Yahoo today?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20070522/hl_hsn/studysuggestscureforhepatitisc
If I'm understanding it correctly, the 99% pecent seven-year
no-detectable virus statistic they mention only applies to
"...patients with hepatitis C who were treated successfully", meaning
those patients who were not treated successfully were not included in
this 99% figure. Therefore, the actual SVR (sustained viral response)
at 7 years for all patients receiving treatment would be much lower.
This makes the headline of the article "Study Suggests Cure for
Hepatitis C" severely misleading.
It ticks me off, because, for a moment, I got my hopes up.
greyhackles - 23 May 2007 18:49 GMT
>Has anyone seen this article posted on Yahoo today?
>
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>
>It ticks me off, because, for a moment, I got my hopes up.
You understand the statistic perfectly.
What the study illustrates is the durability of SVR over time.
It's highly encouraging for those who were lucky enough to fully respond to
the current standard of care. For pretty much everyone else, not so much,
other than encouraging those considering therapy - either first timers or
repeaters...
Cheers
/greyhackles