Summary
Hepatitis C virus related liver disease is one of the major cause of death in Japan. To evaluate the effect of interferon (IFN) therapy on survival, the prognosis of 459 patients with C-viral liver disease was examined. During the mean follow-up period of 8.2 years, 33 (9%) of 355 IFN-treated and 15 (14%) of 104 untreated patients died. Liver-related death, especially by HCC, was the main cause of death. IFN treatment decreased the risk for overall death to approximately a half and that for liver-related death to one fifth compared to untreated patients. The standardized mortality ratio for liver-related death was reduced to 0.4 by the IFN-treatment. This reduction was prominent in sustained virological responders. Thus, a long-term clinical benefit was expected from IFN therapy by reducing liver-related death, especially in sustained virological responders.
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© 2004 Springer Japan
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Yokosuka, O., Imazeki, F., Kawai, S., Fukai, K. (2004). Favorable Outcome of Patients with C-Viral Liver Disease Treated with Interferon. In: Omata, M., Okita, K. (eds) Therapy for Viral Hepatitis and Prevention of Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-53977-3_16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-53977-3_16
Publisher Name: Springer, Tokyo
Print ISBN: 978-4-431-67975-2
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