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Virginia Commonwealth University

VCU Health Publications

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2000

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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences

Peginterferon Alfa-2a In Patients With Chronic Hepatitis C And Cirrhosis, E. Jenny Heathcote, Mitchell L. Shiffman, W. Graham E. Cooksley, Geoffrey M. Dusheiko, Samuel S. Lee, Luis Balart, Robert Reindollar, Rajender K. Reddy, Teresa L. Wright, Amy Lin, Joseph Hoffman, Jean De Pamphilis Jan 2000

Peginterferon Alfa-2a In Patients With Chronic Hepatitis C And Cirrhosis, E. Jenny Heathcote, Mitchell L. Shiffman, W. Graham E. Cooksley, Geoffrey M. Dusheiko, Samuel S. Lee, Luis Balart, Robert Reindollar, Rajender K. Reddy, Teresa L. Wright, Amy Lin, Joseph Hoffman, Jean De Pamphilis

VCU Health Publications

Background

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in patients with cirrhosis is difficult to treat. In patients with chronic hepatitis C but without cirrhosis, once-weekly administration of interferon modified by the attachment of a 40-kd branched-chain polyethylene glycol moiety (peginterferon alfa-2a) is more efficacious than a regimen of unmodified interferon. We examined the efficacy and safety of peginterferon alfa-2a in patients with HCV-related cirrhosis or bridging fibrosis.

Methods

We randomly assigned 271 patients with cirrhosis or bridging fibrosis to receive subcutaneous treatment with 3 million units of interferon alfa-2a three times weekly (88 patients), 90 µg of peginterferon alfa-2a once …