OBJECTIVE To determine factors influencing response of interferon therapy in chronic hepatitis C patients. STUDY DESIGN Descriptive, analytical study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY Pakistan Medical Research Centre, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi, from January 1998 to December 2009. METHODOLOGY Patients of chronic hepatitis C treated with conventional interferon were retrospecti...

conclusions more than one-quarter of treatment-experienced patients with hcv genotype 3 achieved svr after re-treatment with consensus interferon plus ribavirin. objectives we aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of cifn and ribavirin in non-responders and relapsers to pegylated interferon with ribavirin therapy. patients and methods this open-label investigator-initiated study included 44 p...

The treatment of chronic hepatitis C has made remarkable progress over the past two decades. For interferon-alpha monotherapy, sustained virological response rates were between 2 and 9% in genotype 1 and between 16 and 23% in genotypes 2 and 3. By adjusting treatment duration up to 48 weeks for genotype 1 and combining regular interferon-alpha with ribavirin, sustained response rates could be i...

CONTEXT Abnormal serum ferritin levels are found in approximately 20%-30% of the patients with chronic hepatitis C and are associated with a lower response rate to interferon therapy. OBJECTIVE To determine if the presence of HFE gene mutations had any effect on the sustained virological response rate to interferon based therapy in chronic hepatitis C patients with elevated serum ferritin. ...

The efficacy and safety of pegylated interferon monotherapy in patients with chronic renal failure and chronic hepatitis C remains unclear, although a number of small clinical trials have been published addressing this issue. A systematic review of the literature with a meta-analysis of clinical trials was performed in order to assess efficacy and safety of initial pegylated interferon monother...

BACKGROUND The response rates and duration of peginterferon alpha (PEG-IFN-alpha) and ribavirin combination therapy in chronic hepatitis C genotype 4, the prevalent genotype in the Middle East and Africa, are poorly documented. AIMS To compare the efficacy and safety of 24, 36, or 48 weeks of PEG-IFN-alpha-2b and ribavirin therapy in chronic hepatitis C genotype 4. METHODS In this prospecti...

OBJECTIVE To compare metformin and pioglitazone with standard interferon and ribavirin in achieving sustained virological response in chronic hepatitis C patients. METHODS This quasi-experimental, comparative, interventional study was conducted at Mayo Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan, from January 2015 to March 2016, and comprised chronic hepatitis C patients who had insulin resistance. The patien...