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BACKGROUND: Chronic hepatitis secondary to hepatitis C virus is more prevalent in district Tharparker of lower Sindh province that is why it is important to know the response of conventional interferon therapy in Chronic HCVnaïve patients of the area. Objective: to determine the end treatment response in chronic hepatitis c naïve patients by standard interferon therapy in rural area of Sindh PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 146 patients with chronic hepatitis secondary to HCV includedfor treatment with conventional interferon and ribavirin therapy. The patients enrolled atdistrict District Head Quarter Hospital Mithi @ Tharparkar, Sindh, Pakistan. The real time PCR done in all patients to confirm active HCV infection, treatment with conventional interferonandribavirn started for six months. At the completion of therapy, end of treatment response (ETR) calculated. RESULTS: Among146 treated patients,124 (84.9%) showed end treatment response and HCV RNA on PCR was undetectable. While 22 (15.1%) patients had positive HCV RNA on real time PCR hence not responded to this treatment. Efficacywithconventionalinterferon was relatively better in age group of 25 to 40 years in both sexes. CONCLUSION: It concluded that response with conventional interferon against chronic Hepatitis C virus patients in District Tharparkar Sindh is approximately 85%. This high response rate may be due to the prevalence of IFN-responsive HCV genotypes in the area. KEYWORDS:ETR, conventionalInterferon, Ribavirin,Hepatitis C Naïvepatients,Rural Area, Sindh. |
