The clinical research of different course of treatment with interferon-α in patients with chronic hepatitis B in three year follow-up

Objective To investigate the therapeutic efficacy of interferon therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis B.Methods This study involved 235 patients with HBsAg,HBeAg and HBV DNA positive.All patients received IFN-α2b at dose of 5MU every other day for 12 months(153 cases)or for 6 months(82 cases).All patients were followed-up for 36 months.Results There were no differences in HBsAg loss and early response rate in the two groups at the end of the therapy.There were significantly differences as respect to the ALT recovery,the negative rate of HBeAg,the positive rate of HBeAb,and the loss of HBV DNA between the two groups(P0.05).The relapse rate in short-term course of treatment was higher,and the sustained response was lower than that in the long-term course of treatment(P0.05).Conclusion The therapeutic efficacy of long-term course of treatment with interferon in patients with chronic hepatitis B is better.