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Clinical spectrum of hepatitis C-related liver disease and response to treatment with interferon and ribavirin in haemophilia or von Willebrand disease

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Author

Summary, in English

Our aim was to evaluate the severity of liver disease resulting from chronic hepatitis C in haemophilia or von Willebrand disease and the efficacy of 6 months treatment with interferon alpha and ribavirin. Fifty-five liver biopsies were performed in 43 patients without any bleeding complications, as seen with ultrasound immediately after the biopsy and 48 h thereafter. Histological changes were mild, with low scores for both inflammation and fibrosis, in spite of long exposure to blood products (mean 27 years). Two patients had compensated cirrhosis. Thirty-five out of 39 included patients completed study treatment. Hepatitis C virus (HCV)-RNA was negative in 77% (30/39) of patients at the end of treatment, and 36% (14/39) achieved a complete sustained response at follow-up 6 months after treatment. Treatment failure was more frequent in patients with virus genotype 1 compared with non-1 (P = 0.0003). The response rate correlated well with that of non-haemophilic patients. In summary: (1) liver biopsy was safe with our regimen; (2) liver disease in our patients was usually mild and had a slow progress; (3) only HCV genotype 1 predicted treatment failure; (4) our treatment results agreed with those from non-haemophilic patients.

Publishing year

2001

Language

English

Pages

87-93

Publication/Series

British Journal of Haematology

Volume

113

Issue

1

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell

Topic

  • Hematology

Keywords

  • hepatitis C
  • haemophilia
  • von Willebrand disease
  • interferon
  • ribavirin

Status

Published

Research group

  • Clinical Microbiology, Malmö
  • Clinical Coagulation, Malmö
  • Gastroenterology

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0007-1048