anti viral meds

Dr. Doctor,

I am getting ready to take the anti viral theraphy.  I am post liver transplant with recurrent hcv 1a.  In your opinion which one is better or easy to take, I have choices between Pegasys alpha 2a or Peg Intron alpha 2b of course with a combination of ribavirin.  
Can you tell me which one?

[Thomas D Schiano, MD]

Peg intron and pegasys should have equal efficacy post-liver transplantation in combination with ribavirin.  treatment is associated with a lot of side effects so requires you to follow up closely.  at our center we use pegasys because of our bias that patients tolerate it better but there are no studies documenting this.