الفهرس 
Material and methodsOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
DISCUSSION
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Chronic hepatitis C a major health problem worldwide and considered to be a national problem in Egypt.
Progress has been made in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C with the development of pegylated interferons. These drugs are the most recent additions to antiviral regimens and have been approved for the treatment of HCV as monotherapy and in combination with ribaN
The present study was done to determine whether peginterferon al:a-2a alone or plus ribavirin is more effective than interferon alfa-2a plus ribavirin.
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This study included 40 patients known to have chronic hepatitis C. The patients then were assigned to one of 3 treatment groups. Group I: This group comprised 20 patients, these patients received pegylated interferon alfa-2a (180pg)either alone or in combination with ribavirin and they were subdivided into 3 subgroups: Subgroup A: A this group comprised 3 patients who were
treated with pegylated interferon alfa-2a (180p.g) subcutaneously once weekly for 48 weeks. Subgroup B: It comprised 9 patients who were treated with pegylated interferon alfa-2a (180n) subcutaneously once weekly for 24 weeks in combination with ribavirin. Ribavirin was given orally at a dose of 800mg per day.
ciew 142 (b.
DISCUSSION Subgroup C: It comprised 8 patients who were treated with
pgylated interferon alf-2a (180m) in combination with
ribavirin(with the same doses used in subgroup B). Group II: This group included 10 patients who were treated with interferon alfa-2a (3MU) subcutaneously three times weekly lbr 24 weeks plus ribavirin in a dose of 800mg per day. Group Ill: this groups included 10 patients, they received non antiviral supportive treatment to serve as a control group. The results led to the following conclusions:
■The combination of peginterferon alfa-2a with ribavirin was proven to be more effective than the interferon alfa-2a plus ribavirin or peginterferon alfa-2a monotherapy. Producing more favourable biochemical and virological response.
•Peginterferon alfa-2a alone or in combination with ribavirin was safe and well tolerated with a safety profile comparable with that of interferon alfa-2a with ribavirin and no new or unexpected adverse events attributable to peginterferon alfa-2a were reported.
■Most patients who achieved early virologic response could have a high probability of sustained virologic response. As a result of this the decision to continue or to stop treatment can be made as early as
week 12.