Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Advances in Treatment, Promise for the Fut
Chronic Hepatitis C Virus: Advances in Treatment, Promise for the Future documents the monumental advances that have been made in our understanding of chronic HCV during the past decade. The first section reviews the natural history of chronic HCV, how th
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Mitchell L. Shiffman Editor
Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Advances in Treatment, Promise for the Future
Editor Mitchell L. Shiffman, MD Liver Institute of Virginia Bon Secours Health System Richmond and Newport News, VA, USA [email protected]
ISBN 978-1-4614-1191-8 e-ISBN 978-1-4614-1192-5 DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-1192-5 Springer New York Dordrecht Heidelberg London Library of Congress Control Number: 2011940420 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012 All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of going to press, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
This book is dedicated to the numerous patients with chronic HCV whom I have cared for over the past 20 years; for all they have taught me about this disease and its management; and for contributing to numerous clinical trials which have improved the treatment of chronic HCV.
Preface
I first began caring for patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) and participating in clinical trials to treat this virus in 1990. I distinctly remember enrolling my first patients with non-A, non-B hepatitis into a clinical trial in which they received either standard interferon alfa-2a 1, 3, or 5 million IU or a placebo injection three times weekly. Standard interferon had not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment of non-A, non-B hepatitis (HCV). The HCV had just been identified when this trial was initiated and no tools were yet available to measure HCV RNA. The entry criteria were based on having a serum level of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) at least 1.5 times the upper limit of normal, and the end point was a biochemical response defined as normalization of serum ALT. We were ecstatic when we realized that 12% of patients who received active drug had achieved a sustained virologic response. Over the next 2 decades, my staff and I participated in numerous clinical trials designed to either slow fibrosis progression and/or improve sustained virologic response (SVR) and “cure H
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