Standards of treatment in chronic hepatitis C

Standards of treatment for patients who are infected with the hepatitis C virus have been developed from national and international consensus conferences, from extensive clinical experience with various regimens, from exhaustive literature reviews, and from opinion leaders in the general medical community. From 1987 until very recently, the standard of treatment for non-A, non-B hepatitis, later defined as hepatitis C, had consisted of alpha interferon monotherapy administered for up to 18 to 24 months. Alpha interferon has been used in a variety of regimens with varying success for the initial treatment of chronic hepatitis C, for the retreatment of patients who have relapsed after responding to interferon, and for the retreatment of alpha interferon nonresponders. Treatment standards have evolved as new agents have become available for use in our treatment armamentarium. The current treatment standards, as well as recommendations for the treatment of specific HCV subgroups, are reviewed.