Copyright
©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. May 28, 2017; 23(20): 3569-3571
Published online May 28, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i20.3569
Published online May 28, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i20.3569
Hepatitis C in injection drug users: It is time to treat
Alberto Grassi, Giorgio Ballardini, Internal Medicine and Hepatology Division, Infermi Hospital, 47921 Rimini, Italy
Author contributions: Grassi A contributed to conception and design of the study, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data; Ballardini G made critical revisions related to important intellectual content of the manuscript and final approval of the paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Grassi A and Ballardini G declare no conflict of interest related to this publication.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Alberto Grassi, MD, PhD, Internal Medicine and Hepatology Division, Infermi Hospital, Viale Settembrini 2, 47921 Rimini, Italy. albgrassi@yahoo.com
Telephone: +39-541-705623 Fax: +39-541-705342
Received: January 28, 2017
Peer-review started: February 9, 2017
First decision: March 3, 2017
Revised: March 15, 2017
Accepted: March 30, 2017
Article in press: March 30, 2017
Published online: May 28, 2017
Peer-review started: February 9, 2017
First decision: March 3, 2017
Revised: March 15, 2017
Accepted: March 30, 2017
Article in press: March 30, 2017
Published online: May 28, 2017
Core Tip
Core tip: It is well demonstrated that injection drug users (IDUs) on maintenance treatment with methadone/buprenorphine can be treated for hepatitis C virus (HCV) with response rate, tolerability and side effects similar to those reported in non-IDUs. European Association for the Study of the Liver Recommendations on Treatment of Hepatitis C 2016 confirm that HCV treatment for IDUs should be considered on an individualized basis and delivered within a multidisciplinary team setting; a history of intravenous drug use and recent drug use at treatment initiation are not associated with reduced sustained viral response and decisions to treat must be made on a case-by-case basis.