trial survey of alpha-interferon effect on 16 patients with chronic viral hepatitis

alpha-interferon therapy has been approved for treatment of chronic hepatitis c and b. candidates for treatment are patients with well-compensated liver disease and histologic evidences of chronic hepatitis who have demonstrated abnormal aminotransferase levels for more than 6 months. from 30 patients with chronic hepatitis with diseases prolonged more than 6 months, we selected only 16 patients with necessary criteria for interferon therapy (10 patients with chronic hbv and with evidence of viral replication, and 6 patients with chronic hcv). dose of interferon used for hepatitis b was 5mu tiw for 16 weeks and for hepatitis c was 3mu tiw for 24 weeks. at the end of treatment, hbeag was eliminated from 3 patients. from 10 patients chosen, from none of them the hbsag was not eliminated at the end of 4 months treatment. in comparison with 10% elimination of hbsag in treated groups that have been reported in other countries, our results demonstrated that interferon therapy is less effective in asian patients in comparison with western patients.