Practice guidelines for the treatment of hepatitis C: recommendations from an AISF/SIMIT/SIMAST Expert Opinion Meeting.

It is increasingly clear that a tailored therapeutic approach to patients with hepatitis C virus infection is needed. Success rates in difficult to treat and low-responsive hepatitis C virus patients are not completely satisfactory, and there is the need to optimise treatment duration and intensity in patients with the highest likelihood of response. In addition, the management of special patient categories originally excluded from phase III registration trials needs to be critically re-evaluated. This article reports the recommendations for the treatment of hepatitis C virus infection on an individual basis, drafted by experts of three scientific societies.

Critical reappraisal of risk factors for occurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with hepatitis C virus

Savino Bruno1, Daniela Savojardo1, Piero L Almasio2, Mario U Mondelli31Liver Unit, Department of Medicine, Azienda Ospedaliera Fatebenefratelli e Oftalmico, Milan, Italy; 2Unità Complessa di Gastroenterologia ed Epatologia, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy; 3Struttura Complessa Laboratori di Infettivologia, Dipartimento di Malattie Infettive, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo e Università di Pavia, Pavia, ItalyAbstract: More than one and half of current cases of hepatocellular carcinoma in the US, Europe, and Japan are attributable to hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. HCV is also the primary cause of death in patients with HCV-related cirrhosis, with annual…

Who is more likely to respond to dual treatment with pegylated-interferon and ribavirin for chronic hepatitis C? A gender-oriented analysis.

Summary We assessed, in real-life practice, viral, demographic, genetic and metabolic factors influencing the sustained virologic response (SVR), with a gender-oriented analysis, in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) treated with pegylated interferon and ribavirin. Six hundred and seventy naive patients were treated with dual therapy and evaluated by gender and HCV genotype. Associations between baseline variables and SVR were assessed by multivariate logistic regression analysis. Among 362 genotype 1 patients, SVR was achieved in 158 patients (44%), and SVR was independently associated with age less than 50 years (OR 2.12; 95% CI 1.09–4.30; P = 0.039) and C/C genotype rs12979860…

European Association for the Study of the Liver. EASL Clinical Practice Guidelines: management of hepatitis C virus infection