Abstract
16 patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection were treated with a combination of interferon-alpha and ribavirin for 24 weeks in an open study. One patient declined further treatment due to depression after week 16 and did not complete further follow-up. A moderate decline was observed in hemoglobin and an increase in bilirubin level both reversible after discontinuing the treatment. 24 weeks after treatment cessation 9/15 (60%) evaluable patients had complete clearance of HCV-RNA as measured with PCR. HCV genotype did not seem to be correlated with response, but patients with sustained response to treatment had a significantly reduced number of HCV RNA copies/ml serum at treatment start compared with the other patients. These findings support the promising results of this combination therapy noted in other pilot studies.
Publication types
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Clinical Trial
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
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Adult
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Aged
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Alanine Transaminase / analysis
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Antiviral Agents / administration & dosage
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Antiviral Agents / therapeutic use*
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Base Sequence
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Drug Therapy, Combination
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Female
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Hepacivirus / drug effects
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Hepacivirus / isolation & purification*
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Hepatitis C / drug therapy*
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Hepatitis C / enzymology
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Hepatitis, Chronic / drug therapy*
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Hepatitis, Chronic / enzymology
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Humans
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Interferon-alpha / administration & dosage
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Interferon-alpha / adverse effects
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Interferon-alpha / therapeutic use*
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Male
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Middle Aged
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Molecular Sequence Data
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Pilot Projects
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Polymerase Chain Reaction
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RNA, Viral / analysis
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Ribavirin / administration & dosage
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Ribavirin / adverse effects
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Ribavirin / therapeutic use*
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Treatment Outcome
Substances
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Antiviral Agents
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Interferon-alpha
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RNA, Viral
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Ribavirin
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Alanine Transaminase