Monday, April 30, 2012

Successful antiviral treatment of chronic hepatitis C in patients with rare comorbidities. Two case-reports.

Ann Hepatol. 2012 May;11(3):404-8.

Successful antiviral treatment of chronic hepatitis C in patients with rare comorbidities. Two case-reports.


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Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Section of Infectious Diseases, University of Ferrara, via Fossato di Mortara, 23, Ferrara, I-44100, Italy.

Abstract
Antiviral therapy in patients suffering from chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and rare comorbidities cannot be easily started, as it can reduce the likelihood of a good therapeutic response with an increased frequency of side effects. We report two patients presenting unusual comorbidities associated with chronic C hepatitis: one with the Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), a rare genetic disease caused by a defect in collagen synthesis, the other one with the Charcot Marie Tooth (CMT) disease, an uncommon but severe form of demyelinating peripheral neuropathy. Both patients were successfully treated with pegylated Interferon (Peg-IFN) and ribavirin (RBV) combined therapy, with the achievement of a sustained viral response (SVR) and a low occurrence of adverse effects. Up to now there are no reports of patients suffering from chronic C hepatitis associated with these uncommon but severe comorbidities treated with antiviral therapy. In conclusion, in such clinical situations, anti-HCV therapy may be started and tailored, especially if the patient is highly motivated and if optimal predictors of response (i.e. young age, favourable genotype and low baseline viraemia) do exist.

PMID:
22481462
[PubMed - in process]
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