Author information
1Department of Infectious Diseases, Infection Control and Employee Health, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas; The University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, Texas.
2Department of Infectious Diseases, Infection Control and Employee Health, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.
3Department of Infectious Diseases, Infection Control and Employee Health, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas. Electronic address: htorres@mdanderson.org.
Abstract
Authors have reported conflicting results on the persistence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in patients having sustained virologic response (SVR) to treatment. Therefore, we sought to determine whether chemotherapy leads to viral relapse in 30 HCV-infected patients who had SVR before cancer diagnosis. Half of them had hematologic malignancies. Most (60%) received HCV therapy with interferon and ribavirin. Chemotherapy was started at a median of 72 months after SVR and included rituximab (27%), cyclophosphamide (23%), cisplatin (17%), or corticosteroids (37%). No patient had post-SVR viral relapse. Therapeutically induced resolution of HCV appears to be permanent and not affected by chemotherapy.