The Timing of Testing and Treatment of Hepatitis C

Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering Seminar"The Timing of Testing and Treatment of Hepatitis C"Daniel Mello FaissolDoctoral Student, H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of TechnologyABSTRACT: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a blood-borne disease present in 3.9 million people in the US that can cause end stage liver disease. It is the leading cause of liver transplants and the 10th leading cause of death in the US. It is generally asymptomatic for decades. Almost 50% of those infected are unaware of the presence of the disease, many remaining unaware until end stage liver disease begins and treatment is no longer effective. Our goal is to determine the best testing policy for HCV where treatment is an option. Critical components include the possibility of multiple tests and the allowance for awareness of the disease to change behavior, such as secondary transmissions and alcohol consumption, which effects disease progression. We develop a Markov Decision Process (MDP) model for diseases that incorporates disease transmission, testing, treatment and the natural history of the disease. We populate the model with data from the medical literature and compare our findings to current HCV screening recommendations.MONDAY, APRIL 21, 2008, GERONTOLOGY BUILDING (GER) ROOM 309, 2:00 – 3:00 PM

Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - 309

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Georgia Lum