Interferon alfa-2b [correction of alpha-2b]and ribavirin for patients with chronic hepatitis C and normal ALT.

Objectives: Most studies establishing the role of antiviral therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) excluded the patients with normal ALT levels. Small trials with interferon monotherapy suggested a limited efficacy and/or de novo ALT elevations. We sought to evaluate the efficacy of two doses of interferon alfa-2b (IFN) with ribavirin (RBV) in patients with normal ALT [correction].

Interferon-alpha-2b and ribavirin for retreatment of chronic hepatitis C.

Background/aims: Subjects with chronic hepatitis C who fail treatment with interferon-alpha are generally divided into two groups: "relapsers" who normalized serum aminotransferase activity and have undetectable viral RNA during treatment and "non-responders" who do not achieve these results. The aim of this study was to examine retreatment of such subjects.

Methodology: We studied 117 subjects with chronic hepatitis C who failed treatment with interferon-alpha, 87 of whom were "non-responders" and 30 "relapsers.