After treatment (hep C)

12 weeks after hep C treatment a test will show if you are cured.
If you are cured, you are not immune and can catch hep C again.
If you had liver damage before your cure you should continue seeing the Liver Clinic specialist.
You can get treated and cured as many times as you need.

After treatment, you have a very high chance of curing your hep C but you still need to consider these important issues.

Confirming Your Treatment Result

You need to have a PCR viral detection test 12 weeks after your treatment finishes to check if you are cured. It is VERY IMPORTANT to attend for this post-treatment check up. You can’t assume that treatment has cured your hep C. You can find out for sure with the final PCR test.

Risk of Catching Hep C Again

After you clear your hep C (being cured) you won’t have any immunity to protect you from catching it again. You can lower your risk of catching hep C again by avoiding blood-to-blood contact with other people.

Ongoing Liver Damage

If you are cured of hep C you might still have existing liver damage. You will still have a risk of liver cancer if you have cirrhosis, even after being cured of hep C. If you have serious liver damage like cirrhosis it is advisable to continue seeing a Liver Clinic or specialist who will provide ongoing care and monitoring. Your specialist will probably suggest a fibroscan examination is done every six months.

If Treatment is Not Successful

Treatment does not always cure hepatitis C and is unsuccessful in five of every 100 cases. This can happen for many different reasons including your genetics, the virus mutating, or if you miss some pills during treatment. It is important to remember:

there is no limit on how many times a patient can access these treatments
there is no evidence to suggest that if treatment didn’t work the first time, it’s never going to work.

Liver specialists will do everything they can to ensure everyone is cured of hep C. Liver specialists take the treatment approach of “no one will be left behind”.

Your doctor will refer you to a liver specialist if you are not cured of your hep C. The specialist will advise on your other treatment options. These might involve using a different treatment drug or the same treatment but with added Ibavyr (ribavirin).

Click here for more information about hep C transmission and prevention >>

Click here for more information about Fibroscan examinations >>

Also see our hep C treatment update sheet PDF >>