Shortening of treatment duration in patients with chronic hepatitis C genotype 2 and 3 - impact of ribavirin dose - a randomized multicentre trial.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Chronic hepatitis C (CHC) Patients, infected with genotype (GT) 2 or 3 are treated with Peg-IFN and ribavirin (RBV) (800 mg/day) for 24 weeks. Treatment duration can be shortened to 12-16 weeks if a higher dose of RBV (1.000/1.200 mg/day) was used without considerable loss of responsiveness or increased risk of relapse. Previously we have shown that in patients with CHC, GT 2/3 RBV can be reduced to 400 mg/day if administered for 24 weeks without an increase in relapse rates. Therefore we investigated the efficacy of a reduced RBV dosage of 400 mg/day with shorter treatment duration (16 weeks).

Methods

Treatment naïve patients with CHC, GT 2/3 were randomized to receive 180 μg peginterferonα2a/week in combination with either 800 (group C) or 400 mg/d (group D) for

SUBMITTER: Maieron A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3141520 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature