الفهرس Only 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 85 |  |  |
| | | from | 85 | | |
Abstract
The introduction of new agents and regimens for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C, such as pegylated interferons and combination therapy with ribavirin, has resulted in substantial improvements in sustained virologic response rates. However, treatment remains a challenge, particularly for certain patient populations, because several virus-related and patient-related factors are associated with a lower virologic response to therapy. Hepatitis C virus genotype 1 and a high baseline viral load are the major viral factors associated with lower response. Patient-related factors include previous relapse or nonresponse to treatment, the presence of cirrhosis, African-American ethnicity, older age, contraindications to treatment, and obesity. This article reviews the data on interferon-based therapies among patients with lower chances for sustained virologic response and discusses the potential of the new pegylated interferons.
Treatment duration in patients with chronic hepatitis C in the era of standard interferon-alpha plus ribavirin was tailored according to hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype: patients infected with HCV-1 were treated for 48 weeks, patients infected with HCV-2/3 for 24 weeks and patients infected with HCV-4 for 48 weeks.
The efficacy and safety of peginterferon alfa-2a and ribavirin combination therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis C and persistently normal ALT levels are similar to that in patients with elevated ALT levels. The indication for treatment of hepatitis C can be evaluated independently from baseline ALT activity.
from this study it can be concluded that treatment with pegylated interferon (peginterferon) and ribavirin for 48 weeks is more effective than conventional interferon and ribavirin in patients with chronic hepatitis C genotype 4.