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A long‐term follow‐up study of interferon treatment for chronic hepatitis C in Japanese patients with congenital bleeding disorders
Author(s) -
Yamada M.,
Fukuda Y.,
Koyama Y.,
Nakano I.,
Urano F.,
Isobe K.,
Takamatsu J.,
Imoto M.,
Hayakawa T.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
european journal of haematology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1600-0609
pISSN - 0902-4441
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0609.1996.tb01355.x
Subject(s) - medicine , viremia , gastroenterology , liver biopsy , interferon , discontinuation , hepatitis c , immunology , hepatitis c virus , viral load , hepatitis , biopsy , virus
Twenty‐one HIV negative Japanese patients with chronic hepatitis C who had congenital bleeding disorders, 15 hemophilia A, 3 hemophilia B, 1 von Willebrand's disease, 1 afibrinogenemia and 1 thrombasthenia, were treated with 9 million units 3 times a week of natural interferon (IFN)‐α for 6 months. They were followed, biochemically and virologically, for at least 18 months after therapy discontinuation to evaluate the long‐term results. Liver biopsy, hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotyping and quantification of viral load by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were performed to identify the predictors of a favorable response to IFN treatment. One male patient with hemophilia A dropped out because of general fatigue and was excluded from evaluation. Ten (50.0%) patients continued to be HCV RNA negative in serum together with normal ALT levels throughout the study. Subtype 1b and a high level of viremia significantly associated with an unfavorable outcome on the response to IFN although liver histology was not definitive for predicting the response. We concluded that a 6‐month treatment with high doses of natural IFN‐α was effective in inducing a long‐term response without relapse of viremia in 50% of chronic hepatitis C patients with congenital bleeding disorders and that HCV subtype and pretreatment level of viremia were useful predictors of the response to IFN in treating such patients.