Who should get treated?
A number of correctional facilities have developed protocols for deciding which patients should consider initiating treatment while incarcerated (HEPP News, April 2001).I HHS recommends antiviral treatment for "patients with chronic hepatitis C who are at greatest risk for progression to cirrhosis. These persons include anti-HCV-positive patients with persistently elevated ALT levels, detectable HCV RNA, and a liver biopsy that indicates either portal or bridging fibrosis or at least moderate degrees of inflammation and necrosis."30

I. See protocol developed by Lou Tripoli and colleagues for CMS in HEPP News, April 2001, p.6 for example

CONTINUE...
 

• HCV Epidemiology
• Inmates at Risk
• Targeted Screening
• Who Should Get Treated?
• Shifting Standards for Treatment of HCV
• Expect Delays
• Length of Treatment
• Expected Outcome
• Liver Biopsy
• HIV/HCV Coinfection
• HIV/HCV Response Therapy
• Cost of Treatment
• Management
• New Guidelines for Corrections
• Conclusion
• References
• Figures 1, 2 & 3
• Box 1 & 2
• Tables 1 & 2

HEPP News is published twelve times a year by the: HIV Education/Prison Project at the Brown University AIDS Program Box G-B426 Brown University Providence, Rhode Island 02912 401-863-2180 fax 401-863-1243 heppnews@brown.edu