Amantadine Plus Interferon-α Versus Interferon-α Monotherapy for the Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis-C Infection in β-Thalassemia Major Patients: A Randomized Double Blinded Pilot Study in Shiraz, Iran
Journal Title: Iranian Journal of Blood and Cancer - Year 2009, Vol 2, Issue 1
Abstract
Background: Hepatitis-C infection is a major problem in chronically transfused patients. We compared Interferon-α (INF-α) monotherapy with combination of INF-α and amantadine in the treatment of β-thalassemia major patients who were chronically infected with HCV. Materials and Methods: Forty six thalassemia major patients who were chronically infected with HCV were randomly divided into two groups. One group (22 patients) was treated by INF-α, 3 million units every other day plus amantadine 2 mg/kg/day (case group) and the other group (24 patients) was treated by INF-α and placebo tablet (control group). The duration of treatment was 12 months in both groups. PCR for HCV and liver function tests were performed 3 months after beginning of treatment and 6 months after treatment cessation in both groups and the results were compared. Results: Sixteen patients were excluded from the study (12patietns in case group and 4 patients in control group) due to drug intolerance and inadequate follow up . 20 patients out of 24 patients who were treated with INF-α alone (control group) and 10 patients out of 22 patients who were treated with INF-α plus amantadine (case group) were followed for 18 months . PCR for HCV was performed two times for all patients. Initial PCR revealed that 15 patients (75.0%) became HCV negative in control group while 10 patients (100%) became HCV negative in case group. The second PCR which was performed 6 months after termination of treatment disclosed that 16 patients (80.0%) in control group were HCV negative compared to 6 patients (60.0%) in case group (P>0.05). Conclusion: Addition of amantadine to interferon does not improve the remission rate in HCV positive major thalassemic patients.
Authors and Affiliations
Mehran Karimi, Vahid Emad Marvasti, Mohammad Hadi Imanieh, Fatemeh Jahaniar Moqadam
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP379732
- DOI -
- Views 77
- Downloads 0
Relation between the Short Term Health Related Quality of Life and Various Types of Medical Treatment in Patients with Idiopathic Chronic Thrombocytopenia
Background:Chronic Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP) is an autoimmune disorder characterized by a low platelet count due to reduced production and higher destruction of the platelets. Therapy is aimed at increasi...
Non-pharmacological Interventions for Needle-related Procedural Anxiety in Children with Thalassemia
Background: The purpose of the present study was to assess the efficacy of non-pharmacological interventions on the anxiety among thalassemic children undergoing venipuncture. Patients and Methods: This was a clinical tr...
Minor Histocompatibility Antigen HA-1 Frequency and Acute GVHD in Some Hematopoietic Stem Sell Transplanted Iranian Patients
Background: It is suggested that HA-1 mismatching among hematopoietic stem cell transplanted recipients-donors is associated with acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD). So the aim of this study was to evaluate HA-1 fre...
The Difference in Initial Leukocyte Count, Bone Marrow Blast Cell Count and CD 34 Expression in Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia with and without NPM1 gene Mutation
Background: Mutation in NPM1 gene has been reported to be the most common genetic mutation in de novo acute myeloid leukemia (AML). AML with NPM1 gene mutation usually presents with higher initial leukocyte and blast cel...
The Survey of Effective Agents on Factor VIII and IX Inhibitors in Patients with Hemophilia A and B in Kermanshah Province
Background: Hemophilia is the most frequent severe hereditary hemorrhagic disease due to deficiency of coagulation factors VIII (Hemophilia A) or IX (Hemophilia B) in plasma. We aimed to identify patients with hemophili...