A prospective assessment of an 'a la carte' regimen of PEG-interferon alpha2b and ribavirin combination in patients with chronic hepatitis C using biochemical markers.

In therapy with standard interferon and ribavirin, five independent risk factors (RF) were predictive of relapse. The aim was to prospectively validate an a la carte regimen of pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) alpha2b 1.5 microg/kg and ribavirin 11 mg/kg [PEG-IFN-ribavirin (PEG-IFN-R)], taking into account these five risk factors in order to determine whether to continue an additional 24 weeks of treatment in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) negative patients after 24 weeks. Treatment was stopped after 24 weeks in PCR positive patients. The same regimen was continued in PCR negative patients for an additional 24 weeks if patients had two or more RF. FibroTest and ActiTest assessed the impact of treatment on the histological features from baseline to end of follow-up. A total of 96 patients were included; 84 (87.5%) had at least two RF and 12 (12.5%) had no or one RF. A total of 70 patients were sustained virologic response (SVR; 73%), 19 were nonresponders (20%) and seven were relapsers (7%). The SVR in genotypes 2 or 3 was 85% (34/40) vs 64% in other genotypes (36/56; P = 0.02). There was a decrease (P = 0.003) in fibrosis as estimated by FibroTest, from 0.38 +/- 0.03 (mean +/- SE) at baseline to 0.33 +/- 0.03 at the 12-week follow-up, and a decrease in activity as estimated by ActiTest, from 0.49 +/- 0.02 to 0.19 +/- 0.03 (P < 0.0001). Improvement in activity was already significant at 12 weeks, even in virologic nonresponders. This study confirms that an a la carte regimen which takes into account not only genotype but also baseline viral load, fibrosis stage, gender and age, is efficient for the PEG-IFN-R combination. It achieves a 73% SVR and a significant decrease in fibrosis and activity as estimated by biochemical markers.

Blindness following gastrointestinal haemorrhage.

Loss of vision is a rare but well known complication of distant and recurrent haemorrhage. It shares a poor prognosis, with only 10-14% of cases likely to make a complete recovery. Visual symptoms, due to ischaemic anterior optic neuropathy, vary from blurred vision to complete loss of vision in one or both eyes. The pathogenesis of such ischaemia remains unclear. Gastrointestinal bleeding seems to be the leading cause of loss of vision secondary to haemorrhage. However, complete and permanent blindness following gastrointestinal bleeding has rarely been reported. We report the case of a 51 -year-old woman who complained of complete blindness following blood loss, secondary to peptic ulcer, and discuss the pathogenesis of such a complication.