Pegylated interferon and ribavirin failures: is retreatment an option?
Author(s): Cheruvattath R, Rosati MJ, Gautam M, Vargas HE, Rakela J, Balan V Affiliation(s): Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Transplant Medicine, Mayo Clinic, 13400 East Shea Boulevard, Scottsdale, Arizona 85259, USA. Publication date & source: 2007-03, Dig Dis Sci., 52(3):732-6. Publication type: Case Reports Currently, there are limited therapeutic options available for chronic hepatitis C (HCV) patients who fail treatment with peginterferon alpha (PEG IFN) + ribavirin (RBV). An option is retreatment with a second course PEG-IFN + RBV. However, the virologic clearance with this option is unknown. Thus, we evaluated the outcome of our cohort of patients with chronic HCV who achieved a sustained viral response when retreated with PEG IFN plus RBV after having no response to an initial course of PEG IFN plus RBV. Nonresponse to treatment was defined as failure to achieve an early virologic response by week 12 or presence of detectable HCV RNA at week 24 or after completion
