alpha-Interferon treatment of chronic hepatitis C: a controlled, multicentre, prospective study.
Digestion
; 56(3): 199-203, 1995.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-7657044
ABSTRACT
This prospective, controlled study was designed in order to evaluate the response rate to alpha-interferon (IFN) versus no treatment in 63 patients affected by chronic hepatitis C. Fifty-two patients were randomly chosen to receive no treatment of IFN alfa-2b (6 MU 3 times weekly for the first month and 3 MU for the next 11 months). Eleven additional patients were crossed to active treatment after a 1-year control period without any change of serum pattern and were therefore enrolled both as controls and cases. Four patients had to be withdrawn from the active treatment for adverse effects. Sixteen out of the remaining 23 had normal alanine aminotransferase (ALT) values at the end of the treatment, and 14 were still normal 12 months later. A liver biopsy, taken 6 months after the end of the treatment, showed improvement in 12 patients and normalization in 1. Only 1 out of the 25 controls had transaminase normalization and 5 a decrease. One of them showed also a histological improvement. Eight of the 11 case/control patients showed ALT normalization after IFN administration, 5 of them histological improvement and 2 liver normalization. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA became negative in 13 of 17 cases in whom the assay was carried out. Therefore this study confirms that the longterm administration of alpha-IFN induced a prolonged remission of disease activity in over 50% of the patients and the clearance of HCV RNA in the majority of the responders.
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Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Interferon-alfa
/
Hepatite C
/
Hepatite Crônica
Tipo de estudo:
Clinical_trials
/
Diagnostic_studies
/
Observational_studies
Limite:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Digestion
Ano de publicação:
1995
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Itália