Optimization of tactics of management of patients with chronic hepatitis C

The prognostic significance of characteristics of patients (gender, age, infectious dose, the presence of habitual intoxication) and of the virus (replicative activity, genotype, viral load, viral kinetics) in the natural course of HCV infection and the probability of achieving sustained virologic response (SVR) as a result of antiviral therapy (AVT ) were studied. The natural course of chronic hepatitis C (CHC) infection in 100 patients and the effectiveness of AVT in 68 CHC patients have been analyzed. The factors that determine the unfavorable course of CHC (male gender, age at the moment of infection older than 30 years, infection through a hemotransfusion or drug use, the presence of habitual intoxications, virus 3a genotype, and the presence of a/HCV NS3 and a/HCV NS5). The factors that determine a high probability of achieving SVR are detected. In this case the treatment by AVT, regardless of the prognosis of the natural course of HCV is recommended