Long-term follow-up of chronic hepatitis C patients with sustained virological response to alpha-interferon
Section snippets
Materials and Methods
Between 1988 and 1994 three controlled IFN trials for chronic HCV infection were performed in Sweden. Thirty-three and 40 patients received interferon alpha-2b (INTRON-A, Schering-Plough, Stockholm, Sweden) at a dose of 3 MU 3 times weekly for 36 and 60 weeks, respectively 20., 21., and 42 patients received natural human leucocyte interferon alpha (ALFANATIVE, BioNative, Umeå, Sweden) at a dose of 3 MU 3 times weekly for 48 weeks (22). Before treatment, all patients had elevated levels of
Results
In total, 115 patients were included in the three trials, and 27 of them were defined as sustained virological responders based on HCV RNA negativity in serum at follow-up 6 months after the end of treatment. One sustained responder died of a non-hepatic-related malignant tumour shortly after completion of the study. Among the 26 remaining sustained virological responders, four had received treatment for 36 weeks, 14 for 60 weeks, and eight for 48 weeks. Demographic data, before treatment, for
Discussion
Our results show that sustained virological response at follow-up 6 months after the end of IFN treatment was associated with absence of viraemia many years after the end of treatment in nearly all cases, in agreement with the recent study of Marcellin et al. (18). Moreover, liver histology at long-term follow-up disclosed no or only minimal inflammatory activity, indicating that the HCV-infection had been eradicated, and that cure had been achieved. Furthermore, we were able to show a
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Peginterferon alfa-2a and peginterferon alfa-2b combined with ribavirin in patients with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C: Results of a prospective single-centre study
2014, Advances in Medical SciencesCitation Excerpt :Still another consideration is long-term virologic outcome in SVR patients. Recurrence of infection, defined as reappearance of HCV RNA in serum, was found to be below 2% at 1–4 years after induction of SVR [16,17] although in one study in which patients were followed up for 3.5–8.8 years the relapse rate was as high as 8% [18]. However, whether peginterferon alfa-2b is also better in the prevention of late recurrence remains to be established.
Long term changes in liver histology following treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus
2014, Annals of HepatologyCitation Excerpt :The long term impact of interferon therapy on liver histology in patients who do not achieve a SVR remains undefined. In contrast, achieving a SVR is associated with eradication of HCV, a reduction in hepatic fibrosis and a reduced risk for developing hepatic decompensation and hepatocellular carcinoma.14,16,19,21 –24 In a recent study which monitored patients by fibroscan and serum fibrosis markers over 10 years 49% of patients had fibrosis regression and 56% resolved cirrhosis.25
Natural history of hepatitis C infection
2021, Hepatitis C: Epidemiology, Prevention and Elimination: Volume 1