Abstract

Background: A number of high quality randomized clinical trials examining the efficacy and safety of triple therapy in genotype-1 HCV-infected patients have been published. However, these trials included a small number of patients with advanced fibrosis, and selected a population different from that in real-world settings.

Aim: To determine the efficacy of boceprevir, pegInterferon and ribavirin regimen in genotype-1 treatment-experienced HCV-infected patients with cirrhosis and bridging fibrosis in real-life setting.

Method: 167 treatment-experienced patients (85.6% relapsers) out of which 33.5% had cirrhosis, with a mean age of 52.6 years, registered in the Romanian Name Patient Program Database were included into the study.

Results: 16.7% of patients had a viral load >100 IU/mL. Undetectable HCV RNA was encountered in 77.3% of patients at week 12. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed the following independent predictors, measured at week 8, for an HCV RNA ≥100 IU/mL at week 12 of triple therapy: alanine aminotransferase values (p=0.01), hemoglobin level (p=0.04) and <2log drop of viral load (p<0.0001). A stopping score at 8 weeks was created as the sum of these 3 parameters, with a total of 4 possible points. AUROC of this score was 0.84, with a sensitivity of 75% and a specificity of 86.2%.

Conclusion: Triple therapy in this cohort of real-life genotype-1 HCV-infected patients with advanced fibrosis showed robust early virological response (EVR) rates. A week 8 model predicting lack of EVR was created, with good clinical utility that can be validated in prospective larger cohorts.

Keywords

chronic hepatitis C, boceprevir, advanced fibrosis