Journal of the College of Physicians and Surgeons--Pakistan : JCPSP
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J Coll Physicians Surg Pak · Jan 2014
Time for change: conventional interferon regimes should not be the standard of care for management of Pakistani genotype-3 in chronic hepatitis C.
The aim of the present study was to determine the efficacy and side effect profile of conventional interferon alpha-2b plus ribavirin for treating chronic hepatitis C genotype-3 infections in Pakistan. The study was conducted on treating 220 treatment-naïve individuals at KRL Hospital with conventional interferon given for 6 months. ⋯ Leukopenia, gastrointestinal and miscellaneous systemic complaints were the most common adverse effects. In the context of a low ETR and SVR but a similar side effect profile as that of pegylated regimes, conventional therapy needs to be replaced with peg-interferon as the treatment of choice.