Prospective Study of Withdrawal of Antiviral Therapy in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B after Prolonged Virological Response.

ABSTRACT: Nucleoside analogue (NA) therapy for chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is associated with improved clinical outcomes, but usually requires long-term use. Whether treatment can be safely withdrawn and the factors associated with post-withdrawal outcome are not well defined. To assess long-term outcomes after stopping antiviral therapy, patients with hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-negative CHB who had received antiviral therapy for 4 or more years with hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA (≤100 IU/mL) were prospectively withdrawn from antiviral therapy and monitored monthly for the initial 6 months and every 3 months thereafter. Those with clinical relapse were retreated according to severity of relapse. Fifteen patients were withdrawn from lamivudine (4), adefovir (5), or a combination of the two (6) after a

SUBMITTER: Gara N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8557321 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature