Chronic hepatitis C treatment response to combination therapy: Experience of RIPAS Hospital

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Chronic hepatitis C (CHC) infection is an important cause of chronic and end stage liver disease. Treatment response has improved with combination therapy. We review our experience with combination therapy in CHC patients. Materials and Methods: All patients who had completed at least one course of combination therapy (> 6 months) and had longer than 6 months of follow-up were retrospectively reviewed. Results: There were 28 (22 males, mean age 40.7 ± 9.9 years old) patients who completed one course of treatment. Intravenous drug use (IDU) accounted for 61% of the aetiology. The end of treatment biochemical response was 92.6%. The overall sustained viral response (SVR) was 64.3%. Comparing IDU to the others (non-IDU), there was no difference in treatment SVR (64.7% vs. 63.6%, p = 0.954). Responders had significantly higher pretreatment serum alanine aminotransferase (p = 0.018). Overall treatment side effects were observed in 64% (flu-like symptoms 58.3%, haematological 50% and depressive mood 8%). Conclusions: Our response rates are comparable to published data. There was no difference in treatment response rate between the IDU and non-IDU. CHC infected IDU should be offered treatment.