Treatment of hepatitis C: How will we use viral kinetics, response-guided therapy?

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA level monitoring is currently used to guide the duration of interferon-containing treatment regimens. Nowadays, HCV RNA level quantification is based on real-time polymerase chain reaction assays that are both sensitive and accurate. Assessing the virological response to therapy is used to shorten treatment duration in early responders, in order to reduce the cost and burden of adverse events of therapy without impacting the chance of success. Whether response-guided therapy will still be useful in the era of all-oral, interferon-free regimens remains uncertain. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York.