Liver cirrhosis develops in patients with chronic hepatitis C in ca 20% cases after 20 years of persistence of HCV infection. In cirrhotic patients antiviral treatment is not very effective as only 5% of patients treated with alfa-interferon alone have a permanent response and treatment is more often associated with side-ef- fects. During the last five years evidence was provided that the best results in anti-HCV positive patients are obtained by combination therapy with interferon and ribavirin. The authors give an account on an anti-HCV positive cardiac patient with cirrhosis who had an unusually high biochemical activity of the liver disease and where after combination therapy a significant drop of activity of chronic hepatitis was achieved. The patient who had a bypass however tolerated poorly the haemolytic anaemia after ribavirin and the dosage had to be reduced below the commonly recommended dose.

        Key words: cirrhosis – chronic hepatitis – interferon – ribavirin