The hematological side effects of alpha-interferon therapy in children with chronic viral hepatitis

Abstract

Interferon is standard therapy for chronic viral hepatitis in children. Although it is usually tolerated, there are a lot of side effects of interferon, as tile bone marrow suppression is one of them. The aim of this study was to evaluate the hematological side effects of alpha-interferon in 40 consecutive children (32 males: age range, 4 to 15 years) affected by chronic hepatitis B treated with 5-10 MU/m2 for 6 months. The lowest peripheral blood cells counts were observed between the first and second month of therapy. Dosage of interferon was directly correlated with bone marrow suppression rate. The interferon dosage was reduced in none of them, because of leucopenia or thrombocytopenia. As a result: in therapy of chronic viral hepatitis B with interferon, hematological side effect is not a handicap for continuation of the therapy in children.