[Current trends and first clinical studies of therapy for chronic hepatitis C in children using pegylated interferon alpha and ribavirin].

Our aim was to evaluate the recent clinical data concerning the course of chronic hepatitis C in children and the rationale indications for therapy. There is no doubt that in adult group the pegylated interferon is better than standard interferon and results in higher response rate in combination with ribavirin. Actually complicating the issues surrounding hepatitis C in children is the lack of information on the efficacy and safety of this therapy in pediatric age group. The first preliminary data of our clinical study concerning the therapy with pegylated interferon alpha 2b and ribavirin in 10 children with chronic hepatitis C (genotype 1) suggest a good tolerance of this drug and the end of treatment virologic response in 8 children (80%).