Pegylated Interferon Plus Ribavirin in Treating Older Patients With Chronic Hepatitis C

Summary

Combination therapy with pegylated interferon-alpha plus ribavirin has greatly improved the treatment efficacy and is the mainstream of treatment for chronic hepatitis C infection. The efficacy and safety of pegylated interferon-alpha plus ribavirin combination therapy and its impact on the outcome in older patients with chronic hepatitis C deserve to be elucidated. The purposes of this study are: 1. To evaluate the efficacy of pegylated interferon-alpha 2a plus ribavirin combination therapy in older patients with chronic hepatitis C 2. To investigate the safety of pegylated interferon-alpha 2a plus ribavirin combination therapy in older patients with chronic hepatitis C

Timeline

Start

2007-02

Primary completion

2009-04

Completion

2009-04

Publications

• Background Antonucci G, Longo MA, Angeletti C, Vairo F, Oliva A, Comandini UV, Tocci G, Boumis E, Noto P, Solmone MC, Capobianchi MR, Girardi E. The effect of age on response to therapy with peginterferon alpha plus ribavirin in a cohort of patients with chronic HCV hepatitis including subjects older than 65 yr. Am J Gastroenterol. 2007 Jul;102(7):1383-91. doi: 10.1111/j.1572-0241.2007.01201.x. Epub 2007 Mar 31.
• Background Hiramatsu N, Oze T, Tsuda N, Kurashige N, Koga K, Toyama T, Yasumaru M, Kanto T, Takehara T, Kasahara A, Kato M, Yoshihara H, Katayama K, Hijioka T, Hagiwara H, Kubota S, Oshita M, Haruna Y, Mita E, Suzuki K, Ishibashi K, Hayashi N. Should aged patients with chronic hepatitis C be treated with interferon and ribavirin combination therapy? Hepatol Res. 2006 Jul;35(3):185-9. doi: 10.1016/j.hepres.2006.03.008. Epub 2006 May 4.
• Background Thabut D, Le Calvez S, Thibault V, Massard J, Munteanu M, Di Martino V, Ratziu V, Poynard T. Hepatitis C in 6,865 patients 65 yr or older: a severe and neglected curable disease? Am J Gastroenterol. 2006 Jun;101(6):1260-7. doi: 10.1111/j.1572-0241.2006.00556.x.
• Background Honda T, Katano Y, Urano F, Murayama M, Hayashi K, Ishigami M, Nakano I, Yoshioka K, Toyoda H, Kumada T, Goto H. Efficacy of ribavirin plus interferon-alpha in patients aged >or=60 years with chronic hepatitis C. J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2007 Jul;22(7):989-95. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-1746.2006.04773.x.
• Background Iwasaki Y, Ikeda H, Araki Y, Osawa T, Kita K, Ando M, Shimoe T, Takaguchi K, Hashimoto N, Kobatake T, Tomita M, Kawaguchi M, Kobashi H, Sakaguchi K, Shiratori Y. Limitation of combination therapy of interferon and ribavirin for older patients with chronic hepatitis C. Hepatology. 2006 Jan;43(1):54-63. doi: 10.1002/hep.20984.
• Huang CF, Yang JF, Dai CY, Huang JF, Hou NJ, Hsieh MY, Lin ZY, Chen SC, Hsieh MY, Wang LY, Chang WY, Chuang WL, Yu ML. Efficacy and safety of pegylated interferon combined with ribavirin for the treatment of older patients with chronic hepatitis C. J Infect Dis. 2010 Mar;201(5):751-9. doi: 10.1086/650470.

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