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Clinical Trial
. 1998 Mar-Apr;45(20):488-91.

Treatment of chronic hepatitis C genotype 4 with alpha-interferon in Saudi Arabia: a multicenter study

F Z al-Faleh  1 , F Sbeih, M al-Karawi, I A al-Mofleh, R S al-Rashed, A Ayoola, S al-Amri, I Mayet, T M al-Habbal, A al-Omair, M O al-Sohaibani, A O Abdullah, S A Mohamed, M A el-Sheikh
Affiliations
  • PMID: 9638433
Clinical Trial

Treatment of chronic hepatitis C genotype 4 with alpha-interferon in Saudi Arabia: a multicenter study

F Z al-Faleh et al. Hepatogastroenterology. 1998 Mar-Apr.

Abstract

Background/aim: 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.

Methodology: 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.

Conclusion: 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.

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