Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Dikici, Bunyamin
• Bosnak, Mehmet
• Bosnak, Vuslat
• Dagli, Abdullah
• Davutoglu, Mehmet
• Yagci, Rasit Vural
• Haspolat, Kenan

Titel

Comparison of treatments of chronic hepatitis B in children with lamivudine and α-interferon combination and α-interferon alone

Ist Teil von

• Pediatrics international, 2002-10, Vol.44 (5), p.517-521

Ort / Verlag

Oxford, UK: Blackwell Science Pty

Erscheinungsjahr

2002

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Background : The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of the α‐interferon treatment with treatment using α‐interferon and lamivudine in combination for cases of childhood chronic hepatitis B infection. Methods : Patients were evaluated in two groups retrospectively. In group 1, 27 patients were simultaneously given α‐interferon 2b 10 MU/m2, 3 days a week by s.c. injection plus lamivudine 4 mg/kg a day (maximum 100 mg) for 12 months. In group 2, there were 13 patients who only received the same dosage of α‐interferon and no lamivudine over the same period of time. Results : In group 1 the initial mean value of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) was 121 ± 66 IU/L and decreased to 27.8 ± 11.5 IU/L; in group 2, initial mean values of ALT was 129 ± 46 IU/L and decreased to 60 ± 6 IU/L at the end of the twelfth month of the therapy (P < 0.05). Hepatitis B virus DNA (HBV‐DNA) clearance was obtained in all group 1 patients and six of 13 patients in group 2 at the end of the therapy (P < 0.001). The rates of hepatitis B early (HBe) antigen clearance and anti‐HBe seroconversion were 59 and 37% in group 1 and 46 and 30.7% in group 2 (P > 0.05). The number of patients with complete response was found to be 10 out of 27 (37%) in group 1 and four out of 13 cases (30.7%) in group 2, 6 months after the end of the therapy. There was no statistically significant difference between both groups (P > 0.05). Conclusion : α‐Interferon and lamivudine combination therapy had a more beneficial effect than α‐interferon monotherapy in normalization of ALT and clearance of HBV‐DNA; however, the complete response rate at 6 months after the end of the therapy was not statistically significantly different between both groups.