Variations in the viral NS5B region in Japanese patients with chronic hepatitis C virus genotype 1b infection. No specific amino acid substitution was identified as determinants of treatment response to interferon/ribavirin combination therapy.

Objective: A recent study suggested that the substitution of amino acid 415 of HCV NS5B from phenylalanine to tyrosine in patients with HCV genotype 1a infection is induced by ribavirin and responsible for resistance to ribavirin therapy. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether specific variations in the HCV NS5B sequence in Japanese patients with HCV genotype 1b (HCV/1b) infection are associated with treatment response or selected by treatment with interferon-alpha/ribavirin combination therapy.

Methods: Eighteen Japanese patients with HCV/1b infection receiving interferon-alpha/ribavirin combination therapy for 24 weeks were studied.

Pyogenic granuloma of the stomach successfully treated by endoscopic resection after transarterial embolization of the feeding artery.

Pyogenic granulomas represent the aquisition of vasodilative granulation tissue in the skin or mucosa. They are extremely rare in the alimentary tract, other than in the oral cavity. Here, we report a case of pyogenic granuloma arising from the gastric mucosa.