Immediate virological response predicts the success of shortterm peg-interferon monotherapy for chronic hepatitis C

1Citations
Citations of this article
8Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.
Get full text

Abstract

AIM: To investigate the efficacy of short-term peg- interferon (PEG-IFN) monotherapy for chronic hepatitis C patients who achieved an immediate virological re- sponse. METHODS: Defining an "immediate virological re- sponse (IVR)" as the loss of serum hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA 7 d after the first administration of PEG-IFN α, we conducted a 12-wk course of PEG-IFN α2a monothera- py without the addition of ribavirin for 38 patients who had low pretreatment HCV RNA load and exhibited IVR. The patients included 21 men and 17 women, whose ages ranged from 22 to 77 years (mean ± SD: 52.0 ± 17.8 years). There were 4 patients with HCV genotype 1b, 23 patients with genotype 2a and 4 patients with genotype 2b. HCV genotype was not determined for the remaining 7 patients. Patients were categorized into a sustained virological response (SVR) group, if serum HCV RNA remained negative for 24 wk after the end of treatment, or into a relapse group. RESULTS: Based on the intention-to-treat analysis, 35 patients (92.1%) achieved SVR. One patient (2.6%) relapsed with serum HCV RNA 12 wk after the end of treatment. Two patients (5.3%) withdrew from the study during the 24-wk follow-up period. With regard to the HCV RNA genotype, the SVR rates were 100% (4/4) for genotype 1b, 95.7% (22/23) for genotype 2a and 100% (4/4) for genotype 2b. The SVR rate in 7 patients, whose HCV RNA genotypes were not determined, was 71.4% (5/7). CONCLUSION: Short-term PEG-IFN α2a monotherapy is highly effective for chronic hepatitis C patients who have low pretreatment HCV RNA load and exhibit IVR. © 2010 Baishideng.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Yada, M., Masumoto, A., Yamashita, N., Motomura, K., Koyanagi, T., & Sakamoto, S. (2010). Immediate virological response predicts the success of shortterm peg-interferon monotherapy for chronic hepatitis C. World Journal of Gastroenterology, 16(12), 1506–1511. https://doi.org/10.3748/wjg.v16.i12.1506

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free