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Efficacy of prolonged interferon‐alpha treatment in chronic hepatitis B patients with HBeAb: comparison between 6 and 12 months of therapy
Author(s) -
LopezAlcorocho J. M.,
Bartolome J.,
Cotonat T.,
Carreño V.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of viral hepatitis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.329
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1365-2893
pISSN - 1352-0504
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2893.1997.tb00157.x
Subject(s) - medicine , gastroenterology , clearance , alpha interferon , interferon , chronic hepatitis , interferon alfa , surgery , virus , immunology , urology
Summary. We compared the response and the relapse rates of HBeAb‐positive patients treated with interferon‐alpha for 6 or 12 months. Thirty‐eight HBeAb‐positive patients which chronic hepatitis B were randomly allocated into two groups: Group I (19 patients receiving 10 MU of recombinant interferon‐alpha 2b three times a week for 2 months, followed by 5 MU three times a week for 2 months and then 3 MU three times a week for 2 months); Group II (19 patients receiving 10 MU of recombinant interferon‐alpha 2b three times a week for 2 months, followed by 5 MU three times a week for 2 months and then 3 MU three times a week for 8 months). At the end of treatment, alanine aminotransferase normalization was higher but not more significant in Group I than in II (53% vs 26%), while hepatitis B virus DNA clearance was similar in both groups (21% in Group I vs 26% in Group II). However, at 12 months of followup, biochemical relapses occurred only in Group I (60% vs 0% in Groups I and II, respectively). Five complete responded cleared hepatitis B surface antigen at that time. In conclusion, prolonged treatment of HBeAb patients is efficient in reducing the biochemical relapse.