Importance of Adverse Effect and Ribavirin Serum Level Monitoring during Interferon Alpha-2b and Ribavirin Combination Therapy in Chronic Hepatitis C
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Accession number;04A0379758
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| Title;Importance of Adverse Effect and Ribavirin Serum Level Monitoring during Interferon Alpha-2b and Ribavirin Combination Therapy in Chronic Hepatitis C |
| Author;
GOTO YOSHIKAZU
(Sapporo Municipal Hospital, JPN)
YAMAMOTO ASUKA
(Sapporo Municipal Hospital, JPN)
IWAI SHINJI
(Sapporo Municipal Hospital, JPN)
TADANO KOJI
(Sapporo Municipal Hospital, JPN)
NAGASAKA ATSUSHI
(Sapporo Municipal Hospital, JPN)
HIGUCHI AKIFUMI
(Sapporo Municipal Hospital, JPN)
SAWAZAKI RINAKO
(Health Sci. Univ. Hokkaido)
KOBAYASHI MICHIYA
(Health Sci. Univ. Hokkaido)
SAITO HIROSHI
(Health Sci. Univ. Hokkaido)
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Journal Title;Japanese Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Care and Sciences
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Journal Code:Y0888A
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ISSN:1346-342X
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VOL.30;NO.5;PAGE.297-304(2004)
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| Figure&Table&Reference;FIG.7, TBL.1, REF.9 |
| Pub. Country;Japan |
| Language;Japanese |
| Abstract;Interferon monotherapy is less effective against chronic hepatitis C when it is caused by the genotype 1b virus, which is highly prevalent in Japan. For this reason, combination therapy comprising interferon and ribavirin has recently been introduced, but this new therapy often causes serious adverse effects. This study was undertaken to characterize the adverse effects in 25 patients who underwent combination therapy in the Department of Gastroenterology of Sapporo City General Hospital. All the patients complained of pyrexia and malaise in the initial stage (1 to 4 weeks) of the therapy. Adverse effects occurring in the mouth, however, such as dysgeusia, increased saliva viscosity, and stomatitis, occurred preferentially 4 weeks after the start of the therapy. In patients who discontinued the combination therapy, hemoglobin levels decreased significantly, by more than 30%, compared with before treatment, and the incidences of malaise, anorexia and depression were significantly higher than those in patients who completed the therapy. Further, two weeks after the start of the combination therapy, serum ribavirin levels had increased to more than 2000ng/mL, and levels at this stage tended to be higher than those in patients who completed the therapy. Therefore, to prevent patients from discontinuing such combination therapy, it is necessary to monitor adverse effects as well as hemoglobin and ribavirin levels at the initial stage. (author abst.) |
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