End of treatment response in patients treated for hepatitis c virus with standard interferon and ribavirin based on viral load

ABSTRACT

To determine the End-of-Treatment-Response [ETR] to standard interferon and ribavirin based regimen in patients of chronic hepatitis C and to compare the ETR response in low and high viral load groups. Descriptive study. Virology Department, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology [AFIP], Rawalpindi, from March 2012 to May 2013. Patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection were included in the study. Pre-treatment viral load was determined by RoboGene Quantification kit. Based on viral load, the 400 patients were divided into two equal groups of low viral load [< 800,000 IU/ml] and high viral load [> 800,000 IU/ml]. The patients were treated with standard interferon alpha [3 million units subcutaneously thrice weekly] and ribavirin [10.6 mg/kg body weight] for 6 months. ETR was measured using Sacace Biotechnologies Qualitative kit. Chi-square test was used to compare the ETR in the two viral load groups. P-value < 0.05 was considered as significant. Out of 400 patients, 206 [51.5%] were males and 194 [48.5%] were females. Two hundred seventy [67.5%] patients achieved ETR and 130 [35.5%] failed to do so. In low viral load group, 145 [72.5%] patients achieved and 55 [27.5%] patients did not achieve ETR. In high viral load group, 123 [61.5%] patients achieved and 77 [38.5%] did not achieve ETR. The difference in ETR between low and high viral load groups was statistically significant [p=0.019]. End-of-treatment-response in patients treated for hepatitis C virus with standard interferon and ribavirin was greater in patients with low viral load as compared to patients with high viral load