Abstract

PERAZZO, Rosalia; ZAMBRANO, Glenda  and  PINO, Hugo. Hepatitis C: Adherencia al tratamiento. Consulta de hígado del Hospital Miguel Pérez Carreño, Caracas. Gen [online]. 2011, vol.65, n.4, pp.313-317. ISSN 0016-3503.

Adherence or compliance to therapy is to apply the treatment for Hepatitis C, with the maximum dosage of Pegylated Interferon and Ribavirin along the foreseen period, i.e. 80% of the dosage initially prescribed during 80% of the established time. The completion of this objective depends on numerous factors: 1. Relating to Patients: a) patient’s education and understanding to realize the consequences of the disease and b) encouraging the patient to comply with the therapy. 2. Inherent to the treatment itself: a) appropriate management of adverse effects and b) drug tolerance of the patient. 3. Setting up a multidisciplinary team: medical doctor, nurse, psychologist, hematologist, etc. which positively influence the attitude of patient preventing dose reduction and drop-out of therapy. In this paper we reviewed 41 patient’s medical records from the internal archive of the Hepatic Department, Miguel Pérez Carreño Hospital. Those patients were treated with Peg-Interferon and RBV (Ribavirin) due to Hepatitis C diagnosis, independently on the genotype. The following parameters were taken into account: gender, age, associate morbidity, side effects, reasons for suspending therapy, % of patients who completed therapy, etc. Word processor and Excel were used and the simple statistical analysis. With the fundamental finding that, approximately, only the 29% of patients culminated the therapy. Reviewing this series allowed us to assess the importance of deepen the doctor-patient relationship, as well as setting up a multidisciplinary team, as an essential point in order to achieve the adherence to treatment and, therefore, a sustained viral response: the paramount objective of the therapy.

Keywords : Hepatitis C; Adherence; Sustained viral response.