Utility of hepatitis c viral load monitoring on Direct-Acting antiviral therapy

Abstract

Background. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA loads serve as predictors of treatment response during interferonbased therapy. We evaluated the predictive ability of HCV RNA levels at end of treatment (EOT) for sustained virologic response (SVR12) during interferon-sparing direct-acting antiviral therapies. Methods. HCV genotype 1-infected, treatment-naive patients were treated with sofosbuvir and ribavirin for 24 weeks (n = 55), sofosbuvir and ledipasvir for 12 weeks (n = 20), sofosbuvir, ledipasvir, and GS-9669 for 6 weeks (n = 20), or sofosbuvir, ledipasvir, and GS-9451 for 6 weeks (n = 19). Measurements of HCV RNA were performed using the Roche COBAS TaqMan HCV test and the Abbott RealTime HCV assay. Positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of HCV RNA less than the lower limit of quantification (