Concluding Remarks Interferon Therapy of Diseases of the Liver and Gastrointestinal Tract

Abstract

The contribution on interferon therapy of chronic viral hepatitis published in this supplement has attracted special attention. In that article it is reported that interferon is a promising treatment of various forms of chronic viral hepatitis. Interferon treatment is also efficacious in the treatment of some gastrointestinal tumours, including metastatic endocrine gastrointestinal and pancreatic tumours and Kaposi's sarcoma in the acquired immune deficiency syndrome. However, the treatment is accompanied by many side effects. Further, especially long-term, studies are needed to determine the place of interferon treatment in these gastrointestinal and liver diseases.

Key Words:

• Chronic hepatitis
• endocrine tumour
• interferon treatment
• Kaposi's sarcoma
• tumour
• virus