 |
|
How is hepatitis C treated?
Acute hepatitis C treatment is largely nonexistent since acute hepatitis is often undetected. Some hepatitis C information suggests that interferon therapy may reduce the chance of progression to the chronic phase. The aim of hepatitis C medication is control of liver disease symptoms, improvement of liver function, prevention of cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer, and optimally, cure. Hepatitis C medication is administered to willing patients abstaining from drug and alcohol use with elevated ALT levels (for at least 6 months), detected serum hepatitis C viral RNA, and liver disease.
Interferon alfa (Intron A®, Roferon-A®, Infergen®) is a marginally effective (10 to 30% response rate) immune modulator administered to chronic hepatitis C patients. Ribavirin (Copegus®, Rebetol®, Virazole®), an antiviral administered with interferon alfa, improves the response rate to 40%. The new treatment for hepatitis C is the combined therapy (Rebetron®) of pegylated interferon (longer acting interferon sold under the trade names Pegintron® and Pegasys®) and ribavirin, which generates positive response in 50 to over 80% of hepatitis C patients, and is administered for 24 weeks in HCV patients with genotype 2 or 3 and for 48 weeks in patients with genotype 1. Lack of detection of hepatitis C virus by PCR 6 months after therapy may indicate cure.
Liver transplantation is performed in some patients with chronic hepatitis C; however, hepatitis C infection commonly recurs in the transplanted liver.
A new generation of hepatitis C medication targeting viral replication or other essential viral processes is in development. In addition, development of drugs to prevent fibrosis and cirrhosis is underway. A vaccine has not yet been developed for hepatitis C, possibly because research on the hepatitis C virus is constrained by the inability to culture the virus and because the chimpanzee is the only available animal model.
| |
< previous
|
home |
next >
|
Disclaimer: The information provided on this website is for educational purposes only and does not serve as a replacement for care provided by your own personal health care team. This website does not render or provide medical advice, and no individual should make any medical decisions or change their health behavior based on information provided here. All pertinent content provided on this website should be discussed with your personal physician to evaluate whether it has any relevance to or impact on your specific condition. Reliance on any information provided by this website is solely at your own risk.
|
|
|
.gif)
