Korean J Hepatol.  2012 Mar;18(1):22-28. 10.3350/kjhep.2012.18.1.22.

Recent trends in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C

• Jun DW
• Tak WY
• Bae SH
• Lee YJ

• KMID: 1372647
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3350/kjhep.2012.18.1.22

Abstract

Pegylated interferon and ribavirin combination therapy is accepted as the standard antiviral treatment for chronic hepatitis C regardless of HCV genotype. This combination therapy achieves higher response rates than previous therapy, but, nevertheless, a large proportion of patients suffer from treatment failure or adverse events. Recent clinical studies of viral kinetics during antiviral treatment have led to the introduction of response-guided therapy, the concept of 'customized therapy depending on viral response', which focuses on modulation of the treatment period depending on the viral response to create a sustained viral response without unnecessary medication and costs. New upcoming direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) maximize response rate, and triple therapy including DAAs along with pegylated interferon and ribavirin combination therapy could soon be the standard therapy. In this article, we reviewed the factors affecting treatment, response guided treatment, retreatment after failure of standard treatment, management of adverse events during treatment, and new treatment options.

Keyword

Chronic hepatits C; Pegylated interferon; Ribavirin; Response-guided therapy

MeSH Terms

Anemia, Hemolytic/drug therapy/etiology
Antiviral Agents/adverse effects/*therapeutic use
Erythropoietin/therapeutic use
Hepatitis C, Chronic/*drug therapy
Humans
Individualized Medicine
Interferon-alpha/adverse effects/therapeutic use
Polyethylene Glycols/adverse effects/therapeutic use
Protease Inhibitors/therapeutic use
RNA, Viral/analysis
Recombinant Proteins/adverse effects/therapeutic use
Ribavirin/adverse effects/therapeutic use