Interferon alpha treatment in chronic hepatitis C

: Alpha Interferon showed effective in the treatment of chronic type C hepatitis, but a consensus has not been reached about the selection of patients and therapy schedules so far. We treated 36 patients with chronic type C hepatitis in the outpatient ward of the 1st Infectious Diseases Dept., "Amedeo di Savoia" Hospital, Torino (Head of Dept.: Prof. W. Grillone) in the period 1990-1992. Alpha IFN 1-6 MU thrice weekly for 6-12 months was used. The average follow up period after therapy was 8.5 months. Four patients dropped out during the treatment period. The clinical response was evaluated using serum transaminases: 9 patients showed a full response, 9 patients had a hepatitis relapse after stopping the treatment, 6 patients had a partial response, and 9 were treatment failures. A better response was observed in young patients, drug addicts, with chronic persistent hepatitis and high transaminases levels. Side effects of the treatment were very frequent, but usually short lasting, and seldom responsible for dropping out.