O. Reichard et al., Long-term follow-up of chronic hepatitis C patients with sustained virological response to alpha-interferon, J HEPATOL, 30(5), 1999, pp. 783-787
Background/Aims: This study aimed to determine the long-term outcome of hep
atitis C virus (HCV)-infected patients who respond to interferon treatment
with clearance of serum HCV RNA.
Methods: We performed a long-term biochemical, virological, and histologica
l follow-up of all sustained virological responders, defined as those who b
ecame HCV RNA negative at follow-up 6 months after the end of treatment, fr
om 3 controlled interferon trials performed in Sweden between 1988 and 1994
,
Results: At biochemical and virological long-term follow-up performed in 26
sustained virological responders 3.5-8.8 years (mean+/-SD, 5.4+/-1.6 years
) after the end of IFN therapy, 22 patients (85%) had normal serum ALT leve
ls, and 24 patients (92%) were HCV RNA negative in serum, Liver biopsies pe
rformed in 23 patients 2.1-8.7 years (mean+/-SD, 5,0+/-1,8 years) after end
of treatment showed no or minimal inflammation, whereas mild and probably
irreversible fibrosis was seen in a few patients,
Conclusion: In this well-defined material of sustained responders to IFN th
erapy, the long-term prognosis was excellent, Nearly all had a durable resp
onse, not only biochemically and virologically, but more importantly also h
istologically with normalisation or near normalisation of previous histolog
ical lesions.