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Two‐year biochemical, virological, and histological follow‐up in patients with chronic hepatitis C responding in a sustained fashion to interferon alfa‐2b treatment

Fourteen patients with chronic hepatitis C who had a sustained response to a 60‐week interferon alfa‐2b treatment course were followed, biochemically and virologically, 2 years after treatment cessation. Biopsies were repeated in 12 of 14 for histological and virological evaluation at 2‐year follow‐up. All 14 patients had normal serum alanine transaminase (s‐ALT) levels and were negative for hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA in serum during treatment and at short‐term follow‐up 6 months posttreatment. At 2‐year follow‐up, 13 patients still had normal ALT levels (<0.6 μkat/L for women; <0.8 μkat/L for men), 1 a near normal level (0.76 μkat/L); all were HCV RNA negative in serum, and 11 of 12 also in the liver. Liver histology improved during treatment and remained stable during the 2‐year follow‐up. The authors conclude that most sustained responders, who have normal ALT levels and are nonviremic at short‐term follow‐up 6 months after interferon treatment, will continue to have a durable long‐term response without relapse of the viremia. (HEPATOLOGY 1995; 21:918–922.)