Can End Of HCV Treatment Response*ETR Have Health Benefits?

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Partial Hep C Treatment Response Offers Health Benefits

While I was away there was a report in Spain on an significant study. The study was presented on Sept 14, at the 50th Annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) in Boston. What they found was that co-infected (HIV/HCV) persons who had an end of treatment response (ETR not *SVR) to pegylated interferon and ribavirin did far better than non-responders.

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The Study :

The study followed HIV and HCV coinfected people from 19 clinics across Spain.

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The numbers:

Out of the 1,428 people

697 did not respond to HCV treatment (non-responders)

211 had an ETR

520 had an SVR.

Liver Problems over a four year period after finishing treatment:

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Quote: "They looked at the rate of developing a variety of liver problems over a four-year period after completing HCV treatment. The presentation did not report on the participants’ average age, CD4 counts, distribution of HCV genotypes or other demographic factors, but those factors were included in the analysis."

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What They Found:

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Quote from the article: "People with an ETR were 60 percent less likely to have liver damage (decompensation) than non-responders. People with an SVR were 92 percent less likely. People with ETRs and SVRs were both about 95 percent less likely to die from liver disease than non-responders.The best treatment outcomes were achieved with an SVR, the authors concluded. They added, however, that ETR was associated with less liver-related mortality and liver decompensation than a non-response to treatment. "

Link To The Article http://www.aidsmeds.com/articles/hiv_hcv_hepatitis_1667_19116.shtml