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RETRACTED ARTICLE: Efficacy and safety of sofosbuvir plus ribavirin for treatment of cirrhotic patients with genotype 4 hepatitis C virus in real-life clinical practice

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This article was retracted on 20 September 2022

This article has been updated

Abstract

Egypt has the highest hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevalence in the world. Sofosbuvir is a new highly effective drug for treatment of HCV infection. Compared to previous treatments, sofosbuvir-based regimens provide a higher cure rate, fewer side effects, and a two- to fourfold reduced duration of therapy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antiviral efficacy, safety, and tolerability of sofosbuvir plus ribavirin in Egyptian patients with liver cirrhosis due to chronic HCV infection. We studied 2400 cirrhotic Egyptian patients with chronic HCV infection who were treated with dual therapy with sofosbuvir and ribavirin for 24 weeks. Efficacy was determined by assessment of serum HCV RNA. Any adverse events during treatment were recorded. Two thousand four hundred cirrhotic Egyptian patients with chronic HCV infection treated with sofosbuvir and ribavirin for 24 weeks were enrolled in the study. The mean age of the studied group (± SD) was 53.9 ± 6.5 years, 1549 (64.54%) were males, all were cirrhotic patients, 3.41% were treatment-experienced, the baseline mean HCV RNA concentration was 4.33 × 106 IU/mL, and 94.37% of the patients had completed the full course of therapy. The overall SVR12 rate was 71.2%. The most common adverse events were fatigue, myalgia, headache, insomnia, and anemia. One hundred thirty-five (5.63%) patients stopped treatment permanently due to the appearance of complications that prevented continuation of treatment. The sofosbuvir and ribavirin combination is safe and effective in treatment of HCV patients with liver cirrhosis. However, further studies are needed to establish the optimal treatment regimen for those cases.

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Change history

  • 20 May 2022

    Editor's Note: The Editor-in-Chief is currently investigating this article as concerns have been raised about the reporting of this clinical trial. Further editorial action will be taken as appropriate once the investigation into the concerns is complete and all parties have been given an opportunity to respond in full.

  • 20 September 2022

    This article has been retracted. Please see the Retraction Notice for more detail: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-022-05600-w

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, El Geish Street, Tanta, Gharbia Governorate, Egypt

    Sherief Abd-Elsalam, Mohamed Sharaf-Eldin, Asem Elfert & Rehab Badawi

  2. Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Menoufia University, Menoufia, Egypt

    Shaimaa Soliman

  3. Department of General Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt

    Youssef K. Ahmad

Authors
  1. Sherief Abd-Elsalam
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  2. Mohamed Sharaf-Eldin
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  3. Shaimaa Soliman
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  4. Asem Elfert
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  5. Rehab Badawi
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  6. Youssef K. Ahmad
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Correspondence to Sherief Abd-Elsalam.

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All authors declared that they have no conflict of interest.

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Handling Editor: Michael Carpenter.

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Abd-Elsalam, S., Sharaf-Eldin, M., Soliman, S. et al. RETRACTED ARTICLE: Efficacy and safety of sofosbuvir plus ribavirin for treatment of cirrhotic patients with genotype 4 hepatitis C virus in real-life clinical practice. Arch Virol 163, 51–56 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-017-3573-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-017-3573-0

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