| Autor: |
Nomura, Hideyuki, Tsuchiya, Yoshihiro, Maruyama, Toshihiro, Miki, Kouichiro, Yokota, Tsutomu, Okubo, Hideo |
| Předmět: |
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| Zdroj: |
Journal of Gastroenterology & Hepatology; Jan1999, Vol. 14 Issue 1, p85-89, 5p, 3 Charts |
| Abstrakt: |
To shorten the period of interferon (IFN) treatment for chronic hepatitis C, we investigated the clinical efficacy of a regimen using a higher dose and a shorter treatment period. Fifty chronic hepatitis C patients who were hepatitis C virus (HCV)-RNA positive and who were histologically diagnosed as having chronic hepatitis, took part in the study. Virus levels were measured before and 2 weeks after starting the treatment. We administered natural IFNα, 10 MU, i.m. daily for 2 consecutive weeks and then three times per week for the subsequent 14 weeks (total dose 560 MU). Patients who were HCV-RNA negative at the completion of the therapy and 6 months later, were evaluated as sustained responders (SR; 32%). Those who were not HCV-RNA negative at the two time points were evaluated as non-responders. Nucleotide and clone differences in the hypervariable region (HVR) and predictive factors for prognosis were also analysed. Low virus level and HCV-RNA genotype 2a/2b were the predictors for good prognosis, whereas the numbers of nucleotide differences and clone differences in HVR were not. Sustained responder patients became HCV-RNA negative 2 weeks after starting the treatment at a significantly higher rate, whereas no non-responder patients were HCV-RNA negative at that time. The SR rate (32%) was equivalent to those reported in previous 24 week treatment studies. This IFN therapy using a higher dose and a shorter period was useful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Databáze: |
Complementary Index |
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