Endoscopic plastic stenting for bile duct stones: stent changing on demand or every 3 months. A prospective comparison study.

Background And Study Aims: Endoscopic biliary sphincterotomy and stone removal is the standard of care for choledocholithiasis, with a success rate of > 90%. For stones ≤ 25 mm diameter, mechanical lithotripsy, extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy, electrohydraulic lithotripsy, and laser lithotripsy can be used. In the case of failure, the next step is surgery.

Triple (interferon, ribavirin, amantadine) versus double (interferon, ribavirin) re-therapy for interferon relapser genotype 1b HCV chronic active hepatitis patients.

BACKGROUND: Retreatment for 6 months with the association ribavirin-interferon of HCV-related chronic active hepatitis relapser patients has high probability of failure, mostly in those with genotype 1b. We evaluated the efficacy of extending the therapy from 6 to 12 months without or with the addition of amantadine. METHODS: Forty-nine genotype 1b relapser patients were treated with 3 MU of IFN-alpha2b three times per week and ribavirin 1000-1200 mg daily (double therapy).