PMID: 16512458Mar 4, 2006Paper

Antiviral therapy of decompensated cirrhosis due to hepatitis C viral infection

Tropical Gastroenterology : Official Journal of the Digestive Diseases Foundation
Deepak N AmarapurkarPraful Kamani

Abstract

For decompensated HCV cirrhosis, liver transplantation is the only available treatment. Only a few studies in world literature have used antiviral therapy in this situation. During a 4-year period, we gave closely monitored antiviral therapy to all consecutive patients of HCV-related cirrhosis with episodes of decompensation. Patients who were excluded from the standard Interferon trials were treated. Patients were started on low dose Interferon alpha-2b (1 MIU tiw) and Ribavirin (800 mg/day) combination therapy or low-dose Interferon alpha- 2b (1 MIJ tiw) monotherapy (in the presence of renal failure) for 6 months to 1 year. Dose of Interferon was escalated gradually to a maximum dose of 3 MIU tiw according to clinical follow-up. A total of 18 patients (mean age = 51.6 +/- 9.8 years; male: female ratio= 10: 8) were treated. At baseline, mean Child-Pugh score was 9.4 +/- 0.8 (range = 7-12). Interferon monotherapy was given to 4 (22.2%) and combination therapy to 14 (77.8%) patients after clinical recovery from an episode of decompensation. Though 16 (88.9%) patients noticed some adverse events, 15 (83.3%) patients completed the treatment schedule. Premature discontinuation was warranted in 3 (16.7%) patients. Out of the 15 pati...Continue Reading

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