Efficacy of interferon alpha with ribavirin for treatment of chronic Hepatitis C / 中华肝脏病杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the prevalence and distribution of HCV genotypes and the clinical effect of interferon-alpha combined with ribavirin treatment in chronic hepatitis C patients in Kunming.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>60 patients were divided into two groups based on drug therapies PEG-interferon-a plus ribavirin treatment group for HCV 1b and interferon-a plus ribavirin treatment group for non-HCV-1b. Serum ALT levels and HCV RNA quantitations of the patients were detected during treatment and follow-up.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The HCV genotypes of 60 patients were determined by type specific probe assay, and five different types were found. Their overall prevalence were 21.7% for type 1b, 5% for type 2a, 16.7% for type 3a, 48.3% for type 3b, and 8.3% for type 6a. Sustained viral response rates for PEG-interferon treatment group were 46.1%, for interferon treatment group were 74.4%. The abnormal rate of serum ALT after the treatment had no significant difference between HCV-1b and non-HCV-1b patients (P>0.05). All patients with early viral responses got sustained viral response.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>HCV-3b is the most dominant genotype in Kunming. The effect of PEG-interferon-a plus ribavirin treatment for genotype 1b is unsatisfactory. The early viral response is a good predictor for the responses to antiviral therapy in chronic hepatitis C patients.</p>