الفهرس 
Decision making in health careOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Hepatitis C virus infects about 170 million people worldwide. The morbidity and mortality related to chronic hepatitis C is a major public health issue in Egypt where HCV prevalence nationwide is estimated around 12%. Genotype 4 represents over 90% of cases in Egypt. Factors associated with SVR have not been fully investigated yet in HCV genotype 4 infected patients. It would be useful to understand the factors predicting response to interferon, in order to optimize treatment indication and administration, and consequently decrease costs.
This study consisted of two parts:
First part was to determine factors and predictors associated with sustained response to treatment either virological (SVR), biochemical or histological.
300 patients treated with different regimens including standard interferon alpha-2b 3 times weekly, pegylated interferon alpha-2b and alpha-2a in combination with ribavirin were followed up for 6 months after the end of treatment.
At week 72(6 months after end of treatment), HCV RNA was available for only 264 patients, and SVR was achieved in 54.5% of the patients; sustained biochemical response was achieved in 79% of patients while histological response was seen in 42.5% for activity score and 38% for fibrosis.