Abstracts Poster Abstracts - Dr Falk

The well established antiviral therapy is also effective in patients already sufferingfrom cirrhosis and can delay the progression to Child B stage and the development ofHCC as documented by a metaanalysis conducted in 4614 patients assembled from18 controlled clinical trials.Besides the antiviral effect of the (PEG)-IFN" therapy there is great interest in itsantiproliferative potency. From preliminary studies on a limited number of patientsthere is evidence that long-term IFN" therapy could positively affect fibrosisprogression and also HCC development and mortality in patients with advancedfibrosis even if there is no complete virologic response. The concept of long-termPEG-IFN" treatment in virologic nonresponders to prevent fibrosis progression andclinical complication (HCC) is now investigated in several large scale prospectivetrials.67