Ivan Schréter
Patients with chronic hepatitis C genotype 1/4 who had rapid virological response (RVR) - defined as undetectable levels of HCV RNA after 4 weeks of therapy have high chance to achieve treatment succes with shortened course of therapy for 24 weeks (standard course of therapy is for 48 weeks). Patients with an early virological response (EVR) - defined as >2 log10 drop in week 12 but with HCV RNA > 50 IU/ml could benefit from longer treatment duration of 72 weeks. Patients with chronic hepatitis C genotype 2/3 without RVR have significantly lower chance to achieve sustained virological response after standard course of therapy (24 weeks, ribavirin 800 mg daily). These patients could benefit from more intensive treatment (with higher dose of ribivirin or longer treatment).