Health
Getting HIV treatment right early
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Oct. 17, 2005
Testing for drug resistance in HIV-infected patients at the time of diagnosis is cost-effective and may increase patients' life expectancy, according to a study in the Nov. 1 Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online.
Resistance to antiretroviral therapy, even in patients who have never received treatment, is a growing concern. But testing for the presence of resistant genes is not standard procedure, probably because of its high cost and unproven benefit, researchers note.
This cost-effectiveness analysis, however, indicated that performing the resistance testing before treatment is begun can effectively guide a physician's choice of regimen and increase a patient's survival by more than 14 months compared with no resistance testing.
An accompanying editorial said the study provides sufficient evidence to recommend genotypic resistance testing in all drug-naïve patients at the time of diagnosis. But the authors cautioned that not all resistant mutations can be detected by standard tests.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2005/10/17/hlbf1017.htm.
