Chronic hepatitis C virus infection is a health concern worldwide-170 million people are believed to be infected. In our setting, the prevalence of hepatitis C is approximately 1.6-2.6% of the population, which means that 480,000 to 760,000 individuals may be infected (1). It is the most common cause of liver cirrhosis, hepatocarcinoma, and liver trasplant (2). The only therapy that is currently available is a combination of pegylated interferon (peg-IFN) and ribavirin (RBV) for 24-72 weeks. The goal of this therapy is the achievement of sustained viral response (SVR), defined as HCV-RNA negativity at six months after treatment completion; success rates oscillate from 54% to 56% in clinical trials (3), and the possibility of bringing this deadline forward to week 12 is currently under consideration given that most relapses occur within three months after therapy completion. Patients achieving sustained virological response show decreased fibrosis progression, and a reduced incidence of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (its risk, however, persists), and improved histology (4). Available data on SVR in patients on long-term combined treatment are scarce, and values of 98-100% are reported (5-7). A recent paper in our country by Puig del Castillo et al. (8) reports on a descriptive study of 80 patients followe up for 5 years where SVR rates were 99%, which is consistent with the published literature.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.