Efficacy and Safety of Combination Therapy of Natural Human Interferon .BETA. and Ribavirin in Chronic Hepatitis C Patients with Genotype 2 and High Virus Load

Abstract

Objective

Efficacy and Tolerance of Interferon β Plus Ribavirin Treatment for Chronic Hepatitis C Patients with Depression or Thrombocytopenia Comparison with Pegylated Interferon α Plus Ribavirin Treatment

“…TPA CC ITPA nonCC PEG-IFNα is known to often cause and exacerbate psychological problems (the range was reported to be from 30 to 80%) [19,20]. The incidence of nIFNβ-induced psychological problems has been reported to be from 0 to 10% [9][10][11]21]. In this study, 38.3 % (23 0f 60) of the patients who received nIFNβ plus RBV treatment suffered depression before treatment, but all of them completed treatment without increasing antidepressants or reduction of nIFNβ.…”

“…Patients with depression are not considered suitable for this combination treatment. In Japan, natural human interferon β (nIFNβ) and RBV combination treatment has been approved and recommended for depressed patients with chronic hepatitis C, and some studies have shown that nIFNβ plus RBV treatment has equivalent efficacy and mild adverse effects [9][10][11].…”