Interferon treatment of chronic active hepatitis B: effect of a six month treatment regimen.

Raptopoulou, M; Orphanou, H; Vrettou, H; Akribiadis, E; Chadzikonstantinou, L; Goulis, G · Gut · 1993

case_series · Level IV

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Abstract

In this study of 17 patients with chronic active hepatitis B, the loss of hepatitis B virus DNA, the return to normal of alanine aminotransferase activities, and histological improvement after six months' treatment with 3 million units three times weekly with interferon alfa-2b, was achieved in 40% of hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) positive/anti HBe negative patients, and 41.66% of HBeAg negative/anti HBe positive patients. The reappearance of hepatitis B virus DNA was seen in most patients when treatment was stopped, although a higher percentage of HBeAg positive/anti HBe negative patients (20%) had a sustained loss of hepatitis B virus DNA, return to normal alanine aminotransferase activities, and histological improvement compared with HBeAg negative/anti HBe positive patients (8.3%).

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