Retreatment of chronic hepatitis C infection with telaprevir: Turkey experience

Abstract

Background/Aims : Patients with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) who do not have a sustained virologic response to therapy with peginterferon alfa and ribavirin have a low likelihood of success with retreatment.Materials and Methods : Voluntary patients aged 18 and older with genotype-1 chronic HCV and with no exclusion criteria were included. Treatment was organized as following : telaprevir was administered at a dose of 750 mg every 8 hours; Peg-IFN alpha-2a was administered at a dose of 180 mcg per week and ribavirin was administered at a dose of 1000-1200 mg per day. HCV-RNA levels were measured before treatment, at 4, 12, 24 weeks of treatment, after treatment and after 24 weeks of treatment. Sustained virologic response was defined as undetectable HCV-RNA after 24 weeks of treatment.Results : Sustained virologic response was obtained in 37 patients (74%). Breakthrough (BT) or early relapse was seen in 6 patients (12%) in total. Treatment had to be discontinued because of treatment related adverse events in 7 patients (14%).Conclusion : Triple combination therapy including telaprevir is significantly better than classical Peg-IFN alpha and ribavirin therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis-C infection.