1. Treatment of chronic hepatitis C in patients with hemophilia – a single medical center experience
Pei-Yuan Su，Yu-Chun Hsu，Shun-Sheng Wu，Wei-Wen Su，Maw-Soan Soon
Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine
Changhua Christian Hospital, Changhua
Background:
Patients with hemophilia had high risk of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection because of received clotting factor concentrates before mid-1980’s. The clinical response rates and adverse effects about using combined peg-interferon and ribavirin to treat these patients are still scarce in Taiwan.
Aim:
To report the virological response and safety in hemophilic patients with chronic HCV receiving combined peg-interferon and ribavirin therapy.
Methods:
We retrospectively collected 11 hemophilic patients with chronic HCV who received combined peg-interferon and ribavirin therapy in a medical center from 2010 to The duration of treatment was 24 weeks if patients had rapid virological response (RVR) and 48 weeks if patients had no RVR according to the criteria of Taiwan's national health insurance.
Results:
The mean age of the 11 patients was 48.8 ± 13 years and all were male. The BMI in baseline was 25.5 ± 3.5 kg/m2 and ALT was 94.3 ± 58 IU/L. Baseline HCV viral load was 6.36 ± 0.27 log of the 11 patients (91%) completed the therapy included 9 was genotype (GT) 1 (1a: 1; 1b: 9) and 1 was GT 3a. In the ten patients who completed therapy, the sustained virological response (SVR) of GT1 and 3 was 78% and 100% and totally SVR was 80%. The numbers of anemia (< 10 g/dL), neutropenia (<750 cells/mm3) and thrombocytopenia (<50,000 cells/mm3) during therapy were 5, 3 and 1.
Conclusion:
The results showed similar efficacy of treatment in HCV patients with or without hemophilia in Taiwan. The compliance rate is high and anemia is the main adverse effect during treatment in this special population.
* p<0.05