Virological effects and safety of combined double filtration plasmapheresis (DFPP) and interferon therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis C: A preliminary study.
OBJECTIVE
In patients with chronic genotype 1b hepatitis C and a high viral load, the viral load was reduced by double filtration plasmapheresis (DFPP), followed by combined interferon and ribavirin therapy. The safety and virological effects of this treatment method were preliminarily investigated.


METHODS
In nine patients with chronic hepatitis C, DFPP was performed three times on days 1, 2, and 4, and the administration of interferon and ribavirin was initiated immediately after DFPP on day 1.


RESULTS
The HCV RNA was undetectable in all patients after the plasma was passed through a plasma fractionator (second filter) in the DFPP circuit. After 2 weeks, the HCV RNA tended to decrease in the DFPP group more than in the control group (-2.45+/-1.12 versus -1.57+/-0.95, P=0.073). However, this decrease was not attributable to a sustained virological response (SVR) (22.2% versus 18.2%, P=0.822). Most of the adverse events were caused by the interferon and ribavirin combination therapy.


CONCLUSIONS
DFPP can be safely performed concomitantly with interferon and ribavirin combination therapy in chronic hepatitis C patients. The combination may contribute to an early virological response. The effect of DFPP on the SVR and its significance remain to be clarified.
Yamashita
Tatsuya
T
Department of Gastroenterology and Nephrology, Kanazawa University Graduate School of Medical Science, 13-1 Takara-Machi, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan.
Arai
Kuniaki
K
Sakai
Akito
A
Mizukoshi
Eishiro
E
Sakai
Yoshio
Y
Kagaya
Takashi
T
Nakamoto
Yasunari
Y
Honda
Masao
M
Wada
Takashi
T
Yokoyama
Hitoshi
H
Kaneko
Shuichi
S