Clinical Features of Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C Before and After Antiviral Treatment

Gocha Barbakadze*, Marina Kvitashvili**, Giorgi Pipia*, Wolfgang Stremmel*** 

*Thoracoabdominal Clinic, Georgian State Medical Academy, Tbilisi, Georgia;
** Infectious Diseases, AIDS and Clinical Immunology Research Center, Tbilisi, Georgia;
***Clinic of Internal Medicine IV, Heidelberg University, Germany

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection represents one of the unsolved problems of the contemporary medicine. It persists in the host in more than 70% of patients. About 20-25% of patients infected chronically develop cirrhosis with a risk of further primary hepatocellular carcinoma. Interferon therapy has been the most effective therapy for chronic hepatitis C. The aim of the study was the evaluation of clinical features in the patients with chronic HCV infection and comparative study of the effectiveness of treatment with alpha-interferon and pegilated interferon. Combined antiviral therapy with pegilated interferon and ribavirin is more effective than treatment with standard interferon-alpha plus ribavirin, there were fewer side effects with the first regime.

Keywords:  chronic hepatitis C, interferon-alpha, ribavirin, sustained viral response