The optimal duration of treatment and expected response rate for hepatitis C virus genotype (HCV-6)-infected patients have not been determined. Our aims were to determine the treatment outcome with pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) plus ribavirin for HCV-6a-infected patients at Southwest Hospital and assess the association of the on-treatment virological response with the sustained virological response (SVR). Medical records were reviewed retrospectively. Twenty-two HCV-6a-infected patients were treated for 24 weeks, and 21 (95.5%) achieved an early virological response (EVR), 20 (90.9%) an end-of-treatment response (ETR) and 18 (81.8%) a SVR. However, only 18 of the 22 HCV-6a-infected patients were tested for serum HCV RNA level at week 4 of treatment and 15 (83.3%) achieved a rapid virological response (RVR). The rates of SVR, RVR, EVR and ETR in these patients were all similar to those in HCV-2/3 treated for 24 weeks and higher than those in HCV-1b-infected patients treated for 48 weeks. A lower relapse rate (10.0%) was seen in HCV-6a compared with HCV-2/3 (12.5%) or HCV-1b-infected patients (23.3%). The positive predictive values of RVR and EVR for HCV-6a were comparable with those for HCV-2/3-infected patients (86.7%vs 90.9%, P = 0.683 and 85.7%vs 86.8%, P = 0.904, respectively). Of the 3 HCV-6a-infected patients who did not achieve a RVR, 2 achieved an EVR and went on to achieve a SVR. The patient who did not achieve an EVR did not achieve a SVR. In summary, our results indicate that 24 weeks of PEG-IFN plus ribavirin can effectively treat patients with HCV-6a chronic infection.

Objective: The present study evaluated the treatment effectiveness of sodium cantharidinate/vitamin B6 in patient with middle/late stage primary liver cancer. Materials and Methods:A 3-month follow-up study on 104 patients with primary liver cancer was carried out. Regular medication treatment was applied to 41 patients and sodium cantharidinate/vitamin B6 combined with the regular medication was applied to 63 patients. The treatment effectiveness and prognosis were evaluated using the statistical methods.Results: At the end of the treatment, no significant difference was detected between the two groups; 1-month follow-up survey showed that in the treatment group, the death rate was lower, the treatment gain was maintained longer and the tumor morphology was maintained better, compared with the control group; 3-month follow-up study showed that there was not significance difference between the two groups.Conclusion: Sodium cantharidinate/vitamin B6 might be used as auxiliary drug in patients with primary liver cancer and could improve the treatment outcomes for a short-term period.

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