Successful treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus infection in severely opioid-dependent patients under heroin maintenance.

Severely opioid-dependent patients are at high risk of both acquiring and spreading the hepatitis C virus (HCV). It is uncertain, however, whether these patients are possible candidates for HCV treatment. We therefore explored treatment retention and adherence as well as sustained viral response in co-morbid severely opioid-dependent subjects under heroin maintenance, who previously failed in conventional substitution treatment or were not in any drug treatment.