Assessment of the Response to Treatment in Patients with the Hepatitis C Virus Infection: A Quantitative Study by Focusing on Virologic and Biochemical Responses

The main goal of the treatment of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is reduction and elimination of viruses as well as achieving high sustained viral response (SVR). The present study aimed to assess response to treatment of HCV infection by focusing on virological and biochemical aspects. This study was performed in Hamadan, Iran on HCV infected patients who were referred between 2009 and 2013. All participants were under the treatment with Pegylated Interferon (PEG-IFN) and Ribavirin (RBV). The duration of treatment varied based on the HCV genotype as 24 weeks for genotypes 2 and 3, and 48 weeks for other genotypes. Of the 186 patients with HCV infection, 52.8% had a genotype of 3a and 35.6% had a genotype of 1a/b. Three months after treatment, 75 patients were willing to do quantitative PCR and early virologic response was observed in 58 cases (78.4%). Also, 112 patients were assessed after completing the treatment (75 patients in 24 weeks and 37 patients in 48 weeks treatment protocol) and the end-of-treatment response (ETR) was 94.7% and 86.5% respectively. Amongst the 103 patients with ETR, 76 were followed up six months after treatment and the PCR was negative in 71 cases (SVR = 93.4). With the progress and completion of the treatment, improvement is observed in liver function tests. Even with the introduction of new drugs and interferon free protocols in treatment of hepatitis C infection it seems that the IFN-based treatment is still used in low/middle income countries for treatment-naive patients with HCV genotype 3.