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An emerging role for interferon in haemophiliacs with chronic hepatitis C?
Author(s) -
Aguilar C.,
Lucia J. F.,
SimÓn M. A.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
haemophilia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.213
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 1365-2516
pISSN - 1351-8216
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2516.2001.00462.x
Subject(s) - medicine , ribavirin , hepatocellular carcinoma , cirrhosis , hepatitis c virus , chronic hepatitis , interferon , hepatitis c , gastroenterology , complication , haemophilia , immunology , virus , surgery
The combination of interferon (IFN) and ribavirin is the current gold standard for treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection with sustained remission rates of 35–40% being achieved in haemophilic patients. A similar beneficial effect of this combined therapy has been suggested even for patients with compensated liver cirrhosis and some authors have reported a possible role for IFN and ribavirin in the prevention or delay in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a well known complication of HCV infection in haemophiliacs. The absence, due to design difficulties, of definite randomized controlled clinical trials remains a handicap for the routine use of specific therapy of HCV infected patients with the aim of preventing HCC. A discussion of these important issues has been performed in this paper.