Hepatitis C Health Center

Who should consider treatment?

Only patients with hepatitis C in their blood (chronic hepatitis C infection) are considered for therapy. In general, doctors suggest treatment if you:

• have a liver biopsy that showed damage (usually a moderate amount of fibrosis or more)
• are motivated to undergo treatment
• are willing to comply with the necessary steps and tests and visits for treatment
• were very recently (acutely) infected with hepatitis C, within the past 6 months
• are coinfected with HIV or hepatitis B
• If you want to start treatment for hepatitis C, speak with your VA doctor. It is a good idea to talk about any concerns you have before you start treatment. You and your doctor will decide if treatment is right for you and which medicines might work.

What treatments are effective?

Before your doctor can prescribe a treatment for hepatitis C, it has to be approved for that purpose by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Several treatments for hepatitis C already are approved by the FDA:

• pegylated interferon alfa-2a (usually used in combination with ribavirin)
• pegylated interferon alfa-2b (usually used in combination with ribavirin)
• ribavirin (to be used only in combination with an interferon) standard interferon alfa

New drugs which are anticipated to have FDA approval are called protease inhibitors which would be used only in combination with pegylated interferon and ribavirin.