Systemic sclerosis therapy with iloprost: a prospective observational study of 30 patients treated for a median of 3 years.

Iloprost is useful in the short-term treatment of severe Raynaud's phenomenon and ischaemic ulcers in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc), but its long-term effects are largely unknown. The aim of this study was to report long-term outcome (median follow-up 36 months) in a prospective observational study of a cohort of 30 consecutive patients with SSc who received iloprost therapy with maintenance infusions every 3 weeks after an initial cycle of 5 consecutive days. At the end of the observation, compared to the pretreatment point, we observed complete healing of digital ulcers in 19/21 patients (90%), a decrease of the Raynaud's phenomenon visual analogue score from 10/10 (25th-75th percentile 7-10) to 5/10 (4-6.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA determination after two weeks of induction interferon treatment is an accurate predictor of nonresponse: comparison of two treatment schedules.

The aim of this study was to analyze of HCV kinetics during interferon treatment administered daily or three times weekly. Seventy-seven naive patients were randomized to two treatment courses starting with four weeks of high-dose interferon administered daily or three times weekly. Twenty-two patients (28.

Virological response to interferon treatment in hepatitis C virus carriers with normal aminotransferase levels and chronic hepatitis.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) carriers with normal aminotransferase levels often show histological chronic hepatitis. This study was undertaken to determine the effect of interferon (IFN) in such patients. Nineteen HCV carriers with normal aminotransferase activities and chronic hepatitis were randomized to receive IFN-alpha2b (3 million units 3 times weekly for 12 months) or no treatment.

Outbreak of hepatitis C virus infection in patients with hematologic disorders treated with intravenous immunoglobulins: different prognosis according to the immune status.

The influence of immunodeficiency on the course of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is still debated, although a worsening effect has been suggested. We compared the characteristics of hepatitis C in two groups of hematologic patients with different levels of immunocompetence who acquired the same virus strain after treatment with contaminated intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG). Indications for IVIG therapy were idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) in six patients and hypogammaglobulinemia in 7 patients with various hematologic disorders, who were defined immunodeficient (ID).

Virological characterization and liver histology in HCV positive subjects with normal and elevated ALT levels.

We analyzed HCV genotype and RNA titer in 36 chronically infected subjects, 20 with persistently normal or near-normal alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity and 16 with raised ALT activity. All subjects underwent liver biopsy and evaluation of the histological activity index (HAI) by both Knodell's and Ishak's scoring systems. Genotype 2 was detected in most subjects with normal ALT activity, whereas genotype 1 was more frequent among subjects with raised ALT activity.