Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the most common cause of chronic liver disease of infectious etiology in children. Most of the children infected with HCV are asymptomatic, and only a few of them develop signs and symptoms of end-stage liver disease early in life. It is not possible to predict either in which patients HCV infection will have a bad outcome or the critical time in early adulthood when disease progression will accelerate. The experiences with therapy in children with chronic hepatitis C are based on earlier and continuing data from adult trials. The currently recommended treatment for chronic HCV infection in adults is the combination of peginterferon-á and ribavirin. The choice of this regimen is based on the results of randomized clinical trials that demonstrated the superiority of this combination treatment over standard interferon-á and ribavirin. Recently, results of pivotal, multicenter, interventional open-label studies on combined treatment with peginterferon-á and ribavirin in children have been published, and the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency have approved the combination therapy in those older than 3 years. The aim of this review is to evaluate critically the available data regarding the safety and efficacy of combination treatment with peginterferon-á and ribavirin in children.

Chronic hepatitis C virus infection in children and adolescents: Epidemiology, natural history, and assessment of the safety and efficacy of combination therapy / Indolfi, Giuseppe; Bartolini, Elisa; Casavola, Davide; Resti, Massimo. - In: ADOLESCENT HEALTH, MEDICINE AND THERAPEUTICS. - ISSN 1179-318X. - STAMPA. - 1:(2010), pp. 115-128. [10.2147/AHMT.S6750]

Chronic hepatitis C virus infection in children and adolescents: Epidemiology, natural history, and assessment of the safety and efficacy of combination therapy

Indolfi, Giuseppe;Casavola, Davide;Resti, Massimo
2010

Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the most common cause of chronic liver disease of infectious etiology in children. Most of the children infected with HCV are asymptomatic, and only a few of them develop signs and symptoms of end-stage liver disease early in life. It is not possible to predict either in which patients HCV infection will have a bad outcome or the critical time in early adulthood when disease progression will accelerate. The experiences with therapy in children with chronic hepatitis C are based on earlier and continuing data from adult trials. The currently recommended treatment for chronic HCV infection in adults is the combination of peginterferon-á and ribavirin. The choice of this regimen is based on the results of randomized clinical trials that demonstrated the superiority of this combination treatment over standard interferon-á and ribavirin. Recently, results of pivotal, multicenter, interventional open-label studies on combined treatment with peginterferon-á and ribavirin in children have been published, and the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency have approved the combination therapy in those older than 3 years. The aim of this review is to evaluate critically the available data regarding the safety and efficacy of combination treatment with peginterferon-á and ribavirin in children.
2010
1
115
128
Indolfi, Giuseppe; Bartolini, Elisa; Casavola, Davide; Resti, Massimo
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Utilizza questo identificatore per citare o creare un link a questa risorsa: https://hdl.handle.net/2158/1194638
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