Impact of Pentoxifylline and Vitamin E on Ribavirin-Induced Haemolytic Anaemia in Chronic Hepatitis C Patients: An Egyptian Survey

Table 1

Guidelines for dose modification and discontinuation of PEG-Intron or PEG-Intron/Rebetol for Hematologic toxicity [16].

Laboratory values PEG	PEG-Intron	Rebetol
Hb*
<10.0 g/dL	—	Decrease by 200 mg/day
<8.5 g/dL	Permanently discontinue	Permanently discontinue
WBC
<1.5 × 10^9/L	Reduce dose by 50%	—
<1.0 × 10^9/L	Permanently discontinue	Permanently discontinue
Neutrophil
<0.75 × 10^9/L	Reduce dose by 50%	—
<0.5 × 10^9/L	Permanently discontinue	Permanently discontinue
Platelets
<80 × 10^9/L	Reduce dose by 50%	—
<50 × 10^9/L	Permanently discontinue	Permanently discontinue

*For patients with a history of stable cardiac disease receiving PEG-Intron in combination with ribavirin, the PEG-Intron dose should be reduced by half and the ribavirin dose by 200 mg/day if a >2 g/dL decrease in haemoglobin is observed during any 4-week period. Both PEG-Intron and ribavirin should be permanently discontinued if patients have haemoglobin levels <12 g/dL after this ribavirin dose reduction.
Hb: haemoglobin
WBC: White blood cell.