Abstract
It is now established, throughout the world, that chronic hepatitis is very common among chronic hemodialysis patients. The prognosis of chronic hapatitis C among hemodialysis patients has not yet been determined, but in the absence of any evidence against the progressive nature of this disease, interferon is clearly indicated.
We treated 15 patients on chronic hemodialysis who showed elevated ALT levels, due to chronic hepatitis C, with interferon α-2a. The primary target dosage was 6MU per day for the first 14 days followed by 3 doses per week for 6 months. The side effects were so severe that IFN was withdrawn early in one patient, the dosage reduced in 10 and only 3 tolerated the scheduled dosage. Excluding one patient who just completed therapy, 13 were evaluable for therapeutic efficacy which was assessed from serum ALT and virus RNA levels. The overall results showed that the IFN therapy was effective in 8 of 13 patients. This efficacy rate is higher than the reported figures in this country. It was concluded that IFN therapy is indicated in hemodialysis patients who have active chronic hepatitis C, but the dosage should be reduced in order to minimize untoward side effects.
