“Maintenance” Treatment for Patients With Cirrhosis Related to Hepatitis C

Despite advances in the treatment of hepatitis C during the last 15 years, nearly half of patients fail antiviral therapy and remain chronically infected.¹ For these nonresponders, there are 4 general approaches. The first is to examine the previous treatment regimen critically to see whether there were any deficiencies. It is not uncommon for patients referred as nonresponders to have had inadequate doses of medications (particularly ribavirin) or a lack of total adherence to the treatment regimen. Occasionally, retreating with peginterferon and ribavirin can produce a successful outcome if the deficiencies can be corrected.