title: [Efficacy of combination treatment with pegylated interferon plus ribavirin in patients chronically infected with HCV].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the efficacy of combined antiviral treatment with pegylated interferon alpha plus ribavirin in patients with chronic HCV infection who have not yet been treated with antivirals (treatment-naive patients). To compare the treatment effect in patients with low (< 600,000 IU/ml) and high (> or = 600,000 IU/ml) initial viremia. METHODS AND TREATMENT REGIME: Treatment-naive patients with chronic HCV infection treated with the combination therapy of pegylated interferon-alpha2a plus ribavirin. Treatment response was evaluated at weeks 12, 24 and 48 when treatment was ongoing and at weeks 12, 24 and 48 after the treatment was finished. Commercially available sets from various manufacturers were used for serum and molecular genetic diagnostics of HCV infection.
  
  
  METHODS
  Antiviral treatment was initiated in 175 patients between 2001 and 2007. The complete data sets suitable for statistical analysis were available for 143 patients. End of treatment response and sustained viral response analyses were conducted separately for HCV genotype 1 (n = 124) and genotype 2 + 3 (n = 7).
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the genotype 1 group, 76% of patients achieved end of treatment response and 59% of patients achieved sustained viral response. Both types of response were observed in 100% of the genotype 2 and 3 infected patients. When a correlation between initial viremia and sustained viral response was analysed, no statistically significant difference was observed between patients with low (< 600,000 IU/ml) and high (> or = 600,000 IU/ml) initial viremia.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results observed in the present study are generally slightly better than comparable results from large registration studies. In contrary to the published literature, the threshold of 600,000 IU/ml for initial viremia did not correlate statistically significantly with SVR.
authors.affiliation: Interní klinika 1. lékarské fakulty UK a UVN Praha. petr.urbanek@uvn.cz
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Urbánek
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Subhanová
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Janousová
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dusek
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Marecek
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Brůha
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Petrtýl
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brodanová
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D012254:Ribavirin / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D014766:Viremia; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; D012254:Ribavirin; C100416:peginterferon alfa-2a