Treatment of chronic hepatitis C in naive patients with high-dose interferon-alpha2a induction therapy and two different ribavirin doses.

Treatment of naive patients with chronic hepatitis C has already been reviewed in international consensus meetings [1, 2]. The first consensus was held in Paris and standard interferon in combination with ribavirin was judged to be the best treatment for naive patients [1]. Later in 2002 the National Institutes of Health (NIH) consensus meeting stated that pegylated interferon in combination with ribavirin was the optimal treatment for chronic hepatitis C [2, 3]. There is no doubt that pegylated interferon is better than standard interferon and results in higher response rates, is easier to administer, and generally allows a better quality of life for patients during treatment, both as monotherapy and in combination with ribavirin [4-9]. Thus, at present the gold standard for treatment of naive patients with chronic hepatitis C is pegylated interferon in combination with ribavirin [2].