Abstract
A retrospective study was undertaken to evaluate the efficacy of interferon retreatment in patients with type II 1b -related chronic hepatitis C, and also to determine the most useful predictor of a long-term response to interferon treatment. Twenty-eight patients who were positive for both anti-HCV and HCV RNA in serum, were retreated with interferon from 1989–1993. In the second course of interferon therapy, approximately 80% of patients showed a similar response pattern to the initial interferon therapy in both serum aminotransferase and HCV RNA levels, while the remaining 20% of patients showed a different response pattern. Long-term response occurred in four (14.3%) of the 28 patients with type II 1b -related chronic hepatitis C. These findings suggest that response patterns of retreatment are similar to those of the initial therapy and success rate of interferon retreatment appears to be low. They also suggest that ALT normalization with a loss of HCV RNA from serum at the end of initial interferon treatment is a useful marker for identifying patients likely to benefit from IFN retreatment.
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