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Fifty to sixty percent of patients infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) have treatment success with pegylated interferon plus ribavirin. Low-dose interferon without ribavirin is currently being evaluated as maintenance therapy for suppressing viral replication and retarding liver-fibrosis progression to prevent complications of advanced liver disease and to lengthen survival. In this randomized trial, investigators assessed the ability of interferon alfa-2a to lengthen complication-free survival in HCV-positive patients with compensated cirrhosis.
From 1999 through 2002, investigators at 10 French centers prospectively enrolled 102 HCV-positive patients who had histologically evident cirrhosis (Child-Pugh class A), HCV viremia, and no evide…