Interferon alfa therapy emerged as an early treatment option for patients with chronic
hepatitis C. This therapy, however, fails to produce a sustained virological response
in most patients. Various host and viral baseline characteristics, some of which include
hepatitis C virus genotype, viral load, presence of cirrhosis, and patient age, affect
the response to interferon therapy. The addition of ribavirin to interferon therapy
significantly improves long-term virological response in treatment-naive patients
and is also more effective than repeat interferon therapy is in patients who fail
to initially achieve sustained virological or biochemical responses. However, ribavirin
can induce reversible hemolytic anemia, and combination therapy with a ribavirin/interferon
regimen is not tolerated as well as interferon is alone. Pegylated interferons used
alone or in combination with ribavirin provide improved treatment options for different
patient groups with chronic hepatitis C.
KEYWORDS
Interferon - ribavirin - hepatitis C - sustained virological response - fibrosis
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Thierry PoynardM.D.
Hopital Pitie-Salpetriere, Service d'Hepatologie-Gastro
47/83 Boulevard de l'Hopital, Paris Cedex 13
75651, France
eMail: tpoynard@teaser.fr
