Long-term follow-up of patients with chronic hepatitis C after interferon-alpha treatment

In this study, 72 patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) were followed prospectively for a mean period of 27 months after interferon treatment. Fifty-seven percent (20/35) of the patients with complete response, 18/20 with HCV-RNA-negative serum, had a sustained biochemical remission. Reactivation was seen in 43% of these patients after a mean follow-up of 7.3 months. A late relapse after more than 12 months of follow-up occurred in only 2/15 patients. Patients with a long-term complete response had significantly lower pretreatment serum HCV RNA levels than complete responders with relapse (106,239 vs. 345,649 mEq/ml, p = 0.0213). A delayed sustained biochemical remission was seen in 3/37 patients with partial or no response. Thus, long-term response is achieved in 32% of the patients treated with interferon, clearly associated with a suppression of serum HCV RNA. Patients with normal ALT values and undetectable levels of HCV RNA for more than 12 months of follow-up may usually be considered as sustained responders. Thus, for the first time, the pretreatment HCV RNA level in serum was identified as predictive of long-term response.