Therapeutic Research

Abstract

Purpose：Raltegravir is the first agent of the pharmacological class of HIV integrase inhibitor, and recently approved by Japan Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.ART using raltegravir and emtricitabine／tenofovir is listed as preferred regimen for treatment－ naïve patients in DHHS guideline. Here we investigated the clinical efficiency,adverse effects and consciousness survey on HIV patients who were newly treated with raltegravir in our hospital. Methods：We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 33 HIV patients who had been treated with raltegravir for at least 24 weeks. The clinical characteristics collected from the medical charts included the patients age, sex, CD4（＋）cell counts, HIV－RNA, other laboratory data and adverse effects. Consciousness survey was carried out based on questionnaire method Results：Among 33 patients, HIV－drug resistance had been developed in 5 patients at the initiation of raltegravir. In 13 patients switching therapy using raltegravir was initiated due to serious adverse effects of previous medication. Thirteen patients were treatment naïve. CD4（＋）cell counts were less than 40／μL in 26 patients, and less than 400／ μL in 7 patients Although starting the medication didn’t affect the blood levels of cholesterol andtriglyceride in naïve cases, it reduced the levels in some switching cases. At this time, every patients were successfully treated and no virological failure was confirmed.Serious adverse effect had not been detected. Discussion：Raltegravir was generally well tolerated and adverse effects have been mild and transient. Consciousness survey also revealed that the medication achieved better adherence.