Interferon and Ribavirin Treatment in Patients With Hemoglobinopathies

Worldwide, several studies report that 4.4% to 85.4% of thalassemia patients were positive for anti hepatitis C antibodies. Recently, three different studies reported the efficacy and the safety of combination therapy with pegylated interferon and ribavirin in thalassemic patients. This study is carried ahead to assess the impact of combination therapy with pegylated-interferon and ribavirin in a large cohort of italian patients with beta thalassemia major - transfused and not transfused, sickle cell disease and sickle/beta-thalassemia.