Long term follow-up and patterns of response of ALT in patients with chronic hepatitis NANB/C treated with recombinant interferon-alpha

The response to interferon treatment in chronic hepatitis NANB/C has usually been classified as complete, partial or absent, according to the behavior of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT). However, a more detailed observation of the enzymatic activity has shown that the patterns may be more complex. The aim of this study was to describe the long term follow-up and patterns of ALT response in patients with chronic hepatitis NANB/C treated with recombinant interferon-alpha. A follow-up of 6 months or more after interferon-a was achieved in 44 patients. We have classified the serum ALT responses into six patterns and the observed frequencies were as follows: I. Long term response = 9 (20.5%); II. Normalization followed by persistent relapse after IFN = 7 (15.9%); III. Normalization with transient relapse = 5 (11.9%); IV. Temporary normalization and relapse during IFN = 4 (9.1%); V. Partial response (more than 50% of ALT decrease) = 7 (15.9%); VI. No response = 12 (27.3%). In conclusion, ALT patterns vary widely during and after IFN treatment and can be classified in at least 6 types.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Silva,L.C. da, Ono,S.K., Fonseca,L.E.P., Carrilho,F.J., Mendes,L.C.A., França,A.V.C., Madruga,C.L.A., Laudanna,A.A.
Format:	Digital revista
Language:	English
Published:	Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo 1995
Online Access:	http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0036-46651995000300010
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