Treatment of chronic hepatitis C genotype 4 with alpha-interferon in Saudi Arabia: a multicenter study.
OBJECTIVE
Several studies have indicated that there are certain predictive factors (gender, duration of infection with HCV, cirrhosis and genotype of HCV) of a better response with alpha-interferon treatment in patients with chronic hepatitis C. The aim of this study was to evaluate these factors in Saudis and other Arab nationals with chronic hepatitis C-genotype 4-undergoing alpha-interferon treatment.


METHODS
A multicenter study was conducted between 1992 and 1994 on 80 consecutive patients who were prospectively recruited and randomized in treatment and control groups.


RESULTS
The results of this multicenter study indicated a low response rate to alpha-interferon with an overall response rate of 43%, of which 28% was complete. The sustained response was only 16%. Among the reasons for this low response in our study are the high percentage of patients with cirrhosis and the long infection interval, as about 80% of our HCV cases were community-acquired.


CONCLUSIONS
Liver cirrhosis was found to be the main predetermining factor for response to interferon treatment. Genotype 4 was not a contributing factor to the difference in response rate.
al-Faleh
F Z
FZ
Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Sbeih
F
F
al-Karawi
M
M
al-Mofleh
I A
IA
al-Rashed
R S
RS
Ayoola
A
A
al-Amri
S
S
Mayet
I
I
al-Habbal
T M
TM
al-Omair
A
A
al-Sohaibani
M O
MO
Abdullah
A O
AO
Mohamed
S A
SA
el-Sheikh
M A
MA
D000328:Adult; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics*; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D012529:Saudi Arabia / Q000453:epidemiology; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000998:Antiviral Agents; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D011994:Recombinant Proteins