Long-term progress of patients with chronic hepatitis B after administration of Lamivudine

Abstract

The long-term prognosis of 34 patients with chronic hepatitis B after administration of Lamivudine (100 mg/day) for 16∼52 weeks was examined. The median of the follow-up period after the treatment was 151 week (42∼172 week). The ALT levels normalized in 8 cases (24 %) after the treatment. In 3 of the 8 cases, the amount of HBV DNA was low before the treatment, the ALT levels remained normal without an increase. On the other hand, in 5 of the 8 cases, after a transient increase in the ALT levels, the levels normalized. In the other 26 cases, the ALT levels fluctuated. These results suggested that long-term treatment using Lamivudine was required in most of the cases. However, this examination suggested that the necessary condition to discontinue Lamivudine was a low amount of IIBV DNA before the treatment, HBe antibody positivity during the treatment, and HBV DNA negativity during the treatment. Further examinations in a larger number of patients should be performed.