AIM: To assess the clinical, biochemical, and virological outcome during long-term follow-up of chronic hepatitis C patients with sustained virological response following effective antiviral therapy.METHODS: This study was a retrospective cohort study including 171 sustained responders defi ned as HCV RNA PCR negative at 6 mo after the end of effective antiviral treatment (SVR-6). Clinical signs and symptoms, bio- chemical hepatic parameters, ultrasonography and HCV RNA PCR were followed.RESULTS: Mean follow-up period was 35.38 ± 22.2 mo after the end of treatment. Twenty-seven (15.8%) responders had evidence of cirrhosis before treatment. Forty-eight (28.1%), 107 (62.6%) and 6 (3.5%) patients were genotype 1, 3, and 6 respectively, while 10 patients (5.8%) were unclassifi ed. There were no virological and biochemical relapses during the period of follow-up. None of the patients showed evidence of hepatic decom- pensation. However, there were 3 patients (1.8%) de- veloping hepatocellular carcinoma at 14, 18, 29 mo after treatment discontinuation, two of whom had evidence of cirrhosis prior to therapy.CONCLUSION: The study shows that during a follow- up interval for about 3 years in 171 chronic hepatitis C patients with sustained viral response after effective antiviral treatment there were no evident signs of either biochemical or clinical relapse of liver disease in all but three patients who developed hepatocellular carcinoma. AIM: To assess the clinical, biochemical, and virological outcome during long-term follow-up of chronic hepatitis C patients with sustained virological response following effective antiviral therapy. METHODS: This study was a retrospective cohort study including 171 sustained responders defi ned as HCV RNA PCR negative at 6 months after the end of antiviral treatment (SVR-6). Clinical signs and symptoms, bio-chemical hepatic parameters, ultrasonography and HCV RNA PCR were followed .RESULTS: Mean follow-up period was 35.38 ± 22.2 mo after the end of treatment. Twenty-seven (15.8%) responders had evidence of cirrhosis before treatment. Forty-eight (28.1%), 107 There were no virological and biochemical relapses during the period of follow-up. None of the patients showed evidence of hepatic decom- pensation. However, there were 3 patients (1.8%) de - veloping hepatocellu lar carcinoma at 14, 18, 29 mo after treatment discontinuation, two of whom had evidence of cirrhosis prior to therapy. CONCLUSION: The study shows that during a follow-up interval for about 3 years in 171 chronic hepatitis C patients with sustained viral response after effective antiviral treatment there were no evident signs of either biochemical or clinical relapse of liver disease in all but three patients who developed hepatocellular carcinoma.