Table 2. A summary of the recommended medical tests within the Vietnam Ministry of Health (MoH) hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment guidelines.

Name of required tests		Before treatment	During treatment	After treatment
Group 1: Electrocardiogram	Electrocardiogram	Yes	No	No
Group 2: Ultrasound	Abdominal ultrasound		Every 12 weeks
	Fibro-scan		No
Group 3: X-ray	Chest X-ray		No
Group 4: Blood tests	Full blood count		Every 4 weeks
	The international normalized ratio		No
	Prothrombin		Every 12 weeks
Group 5:Immunoassay	Alpha-fetoprotein
	Free thyroxine
	Thyroid - Stimulating Hormone
	Hepatitis B surface antigen		No
	Human immunodeficiency virus
Group 6: Biochemical tests	Electrolytes
	Albumin
	Bilirubin
	Creatinine (urine and blood)		Every 4 weeks
	Urea		No
	Alanine transaminase		Every 4 weeks
	Aspartate aminotransferase		No
	Gamma-glutamyl transferase		No
Group 7: Molecular biology tests	HCV-RNA viral load test		Every 8 weeks	Yes
	HCV genotype real-time PCR		No	No

Before treatment, certain tests are required to assess disease severity and to ensure that treatment can be safely tolerated. During treatment, monitoring tests are required every 4, 8 or 12 weeks to assess treatment response and drug side effects. After treatment, the HCV-RNA viral load test is repeated to assess treatment response. This is based on the 2013 HCV treatment guidelines from the MoH ²².