Table 2.
Management of Patients with HCV
| Case III | Case IV | |||||
| n | % | Current Advice | n | % | Current Advice | |
| At this point your next step would be to: | ||||||
| Repeat the measurement of anti-HCV | 16 | 12.4 | No | 49 | 38 | No |
| Follow in clinic: refer if symptoms develop | 5 | 3.9 | No | 30 | 23.2 | Yes |
| Refer to a specialist | 108 | 83.7 | Yes | 50 | 38.8 | Yes |
| Don't know | - | - | - | - | ||
| Which additional tests would you order (check all that apply)*: | ||||||
| anti-HCV ELISA | 52 | 40.3 | No | 50 | 38.8 | No |
| anti-HCV RIBA | 2 | 1.6 | Yes | 4 | 3.1 | Yes |
| HCV-RNA by PCR | 105 | 81.4 | Yes | 106 | 82.2 | Yes |
| HCV genotyping | 3 | 2.3 | No | 9 | 7.0 | No |
| If you order therapy, which regimen would you recommend: | ||||||
| IFN-α for 6 months | 23 | 17.8 | No | 20 | 15.5 | No |
| IFN-α for 12 months | 4 | 3.1 | No | 4 | 3.1 | No |
| Ribavirin alone | - | - | No | - | - | No |
| IFN-α and Ribavirin | 23 | 17.8 | Yes | 24 | 18.6 | No |
| Don't know | 79 | 61.3 | 81 | 62.8 | ||
* The sum of the answer is higher than the number of the participants for the participants checked more than one item.