Long-term outcome of chronic hepatitis C patients with sustained virological response to peginterferon plus ribavirin

Table 1 Characteristics of 153 patients with a sustained virological response after peginterferon plus ribavirin combination treatment

	n (%)
Age (mean ± SD, yr)	47 ± 9
Sex
Female	71 (46.4)
Male	82 (53.6)
Genotypes
1	116 (75.8)
2	1 (0.6)
3	32 (21)
4	4 (2.6)
Stage of fibrosis (before therapy)
F1-2	140 (91.6)
F3	8 (5.2)
F4	5 (3.2)
Fibrosis by FibroScan® (mean ± SD, kPa)	7 ± 4.3
Type of PEG-IFN
α-2a	60 (39)
α-2b	93 (61)
Follow-up [range (mean ± SD), mo]	54-90 (76 ± 13)
Patients follow-up
5 yr	130 (85)
4 yr	23 (15)

PEG-IFN: Peginterferon.

Table 2 Biochemical values pre-treatment and post-treatment (last sample of follow-up)

	Pre-treatment	Post-treatment	P
AST (IU/L)	73 ± 70	20 ± 5	< 0.001
ALT (IU/L)	138 ± 178	20 ± 9	< 0.001
ALP (IU/L)	70 ± 19	98 ± 55	< 0.001
GGT (IU/L)	51 ± 46	25 ± 20	< 0.001
AFP (ng/mL)	4.9 ± 4	3 ± 1	NS

AST: Aspartate aminotransferase; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; ALP: Alkaline phosphatase; GGT: γ-glutamyl transpeptidase; AFP: α-fetoprotein; NS: Not significant.

Table 3 Comparative results of other studies analyzing long term outcomes in chronic hepatitis C patients who achieved a sustained virological response n (%)

Study	IFN-α2b alone or IFN-α2b + RBV	PEG-IFN + RBV	Genotype 1	Genotype non-1	No data of genotype
George et al[14]	146 (97)	4 (3)	75 (53)	66 (47)	9
Veldt et al[15]	55 (39)	83 (59)	56 (39)	86 (61)	-
Chavalitdhamrong et al[16]	93 (54.4)	78 (45.6)	48 (28.1)	113 (66.1)	10
Giannini et al[18]	0	231 (100)	77 (33.3)	154 (66.7)	-
The current study	0	153 (100)	116 (75.8)	37 (24.2)	-

PEG-IFN: Peginterferon; RBV: Ribavirin.