Daclatasvir plus Sofosbuvir with or without ribavirin in patients with chronic Hepatitis C genotype 3a in Pakistani population - A real world experience

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Pakistan is among leading countries of world in prevalence of chronic hepatitis C Daclatasvir plus sofosbuvir is recommended for treatment of CHC. The purpose of study was to determine the sustained virological response in patients with chronic viral hepatitis C genotype 3a irrespective of previous treatment experience or presence of liver cirrhosis. METHODS: Open label observational study was conducted at ABSTH Gujrat from January 2017 to April 2018 using non-probability purposive sampling. Patients chronically infected with hepatitis C virus having genotype 3a irrespective of presence of cirrhosis or previous treatment experience were included. Treatment naive patients without cirrhosis were given 12 weeks regimen of daily daclatasvir 60mg along with daily sofosbuvir 400mg. Patients with either compensated cirrhosis or treatment experienced were given 24 weeks regimen of daily daclatasvir 60mg along with daily sofosbuvir 400mg with weight based ribavirin. Data analysis was done using SPSS 20.0 RESULTS: Total 125 patients were included in study out of which 42 (33.6%) were male and 83 (66.4%) were female. Early virological response and end treatment response was achieved by 124 (99.2%) patients. Twenty four patients were lost to further follow-up and SVR(24) was available for 101(80.8%) patients out of which 48 were having cirrhosis and 53 were without cirrhosis. SVR(24) was achieved by 96 patients (95%). Virological response was better in treatment naive patients and without cirrhosis compared to treatment experienced and those with cirrhosis. CONCLUSION: Daclatasvir plus sofosbuvir is an effective combination in patients with chronic hepatitis C genotype 3a infection.