INTERFERON-ALPHA-2B TREATMENT OF CHRONIC HEPATITIS-C IN HEMODIALYSIS-PATIENTS

Nineteen haemodialysis (HD) patients with chronic hepatitis C were tre ated with interferon-alpha2b (IFN-alpha) at a dose of 3 or 1 MU thrice weekly for 6 months and were followed-up for another 14 months withou t treatment. Six patients discontinued treatment because they either p resented severe side-effects to IFN-alpha or had complications of thei r primary disease. Levels of AST and ALT were within normal limits on the 2nd month of treatment and remained so throughout the treatment an d the follow-up period in all patients except one who showed an elevat ion of transaminase levels 2 months after the end of treatment. Serum HCVRNA became negative in 10/13 patients at the end of treatment and w as negative in all patients on the 6th month and in 12/13 patients on the 14th month during the follow-up period. Levels of 2'5' oligosynthe tase were increased significantly on the 2nd and 4th month of treatmen t and returned to pretreatment values the 2nd month after treatment. T hese findings demonstrate that haemodialysis patients with chronic hep atitis C respond well to interferon treatment and that a long-term res ponse is achieved in a high proportion of patients.