Evaluation of the parameters that can be effective on the response to antiviral treatment in patients with chronic hepatitis C

Chronic hepatitis C is an important public health problem due its close relationship with liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Prediction of positively effective factors to chronic hepatitis C treatment gives the opportunity for the most appropriate, individualized and cost-effective treatment while preventing unnecessary and uneffective treatment interventions. In this study, we aimed to determine the laboratory parameters before treatment and during treatment and their likely effects on sustained viral response. Thirty-four patients with chronic hepatitis C (age between 24 and 67) who received PEG-interferon + ribavirine treatment were included in the study. The relationship between some pretreatment parameters estimated to have influence on response to treatment (age, sex, body mass index, liver enzymes, lipid profile, HCV-RNA load, genotype, liver biopsy results) and sustained viral response were evaluated in this study. Our results suggest that younger patients with lower body weight, lower histologic activity and fibrosis, lower GGT levels and GGT/ALT ratios, lower HCV-RNA loads and those with early viral response have a higher rate of sustained viral response. We also observed in our study that, currently as a first line HCV treatment in our country, success rates of standard combination therapy in HCV treatment are promising.