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Korean J Hepatol. 2000;6(3):301-310. Published online January 1, 2000.
- Novel Maintenance Therapy with Lamivudine in Patients with Chronic Active Viral Hepatitis B
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- Abstract
- Background/Aims
This study was conducted to determine the effect of novel long-term maintenance treatment with lamivudine by gradual lengthening of the medication interval in patients with chronic active viral hepatitis B. Method: All patients were non-responder, relapsed or intolerable patients to previous interferon therapy. Patients were divided into a drug-interval changing study and a daily continual medication control group. Drug-interval changing protocol with gradual lengthening of the medication interval after conversion to undetectable HBV-DNA in serum and reduction of serum aminotransferase to normal level was monitored monthly. Results: Before treatment, 15 patients of the drug-interval change group and 11 patients of the daily medication group were similar in laboratory and pathologic findings. Mean follow-up periods were 12.8 moths and 11.4 months respectively. HBeAg seroconversion rate was higher in patients in the daily medication group (86.7% vs. 40.0%, p<0.05). The odds of loss of HBeAg, development of anti-HBe, and suppression of HBV-DNA are about 11 times, 7 times, and 8 times higher in the drug-interval change group compared with the daily medication group, respectively (p<0.05). Conclusion: Drug-interval lengthening method was effective in long-term suppression of viral replication with low cost.
Keywords :Hepatitis/Viral/Chronic viral hepatitis B, Lamivudine, Maintenance therapy
