After treatment

If treatment is successful…

Treatment is successful if a person still has an undetectable hepatitis C viral load six months after treatment ends; this is called sustained virological response (SVR). With SVR, the person has cleared the virus, but may continue to feel symptoms of liver damage. Depending on the health of the liver, the healthcare provider may want to continue monitoring for liver damage.

People are not not immune to hepatitis C after clearing the virus and it is possible to get re-infected. Taking steps to stay safe will help people continue to live well once they have finished hepatitis C treatment.

If treatment is not successful…

If treatment did not clear the virus from a person, there are still many options to help people live well with hepatitis C:

• Creating a space for staying engaged post-treatment. Post-treatment support and follow-up is important for many people. Ways to support people post-treatment include inviting them to share their experiences with others, talking with them about options and next steps, and helping them gain access to other appropriate resources such as counseling.

• Examining the reasons for treatment failure can shed light on other options a person may have. If a person had difficulty adhering to treatment, are there factors that could be changed to help him or her complete it in the future? Each person is unique and decisions like this should be made on an individual basis. 

• Sometimes re-treatment may be an option. People who took interferon monotherapy (an older form of treatment that did not include the boost of ribavirin) may consider trying treatment again with the current combination therapy of peg-interferon and ribavirin. Some studies have shown that people may have a small possibility of treatment success with the other version of peg-interferon that is currently available and made by another pharmaceutical company. People with genotype 1 hepatitis C who took peg-interferon and ribavirin may also consider trying treatment with the addition of a protease inhibitor.
  
  Research is ongoing and scientists are looking for new treatment options. People can try treatment again when new drugs become available or when new treatment regimens are developed. 

• Liver transplantation is an option when there is a lot of damage to the liver and it cannot function (a condition known as liver failure). Transplantation is not a cure for hepatitis C—the hepatitis C virus is still in the body and can eventually infect the new liver. For more information, see Liver transplantation.

Whichever post-treatment option a person explores, taking steps to promote a healthy liver and reduce the rate of liver damage can help him or her live well with hepatitis C.

Revised 2012.