— Christine M. Kukka, Project Manager, HBV Advocate
Current medical guidelines suggest patients continue antiviral
treatment for at least one year after they achieve undetectable viral
load. However, a group of Dutch researchers recommend that patients
take the drugs for at least three years after reaching undetectable HBV
DNA to increase their chance of a sustained response.
They monitored 94 patients who stopped antivirals
after one to three years of "consolidation" treatment–which begins
once a patient has achieved undetectable HBV DNA (and HBeAg loss if
patients were HBeAg-positive when they started antivirals.)
Within three years of stopping treatment, 74% of
the patients who underwent a three-year consolidation treatment period
had one instance of HBV DNA rebound exceeding 2,000 international units
per milliliter.
However, about half of those who a had shorter,
one-year consolidation treatment period experienced persistent and
prolonged HBV DNA relapses.
For both HBeAg-positive and HBeAg-negative
patients, longer consolidation therapy periods of three years or more
generated lower relapse rates. The relapse rates at one year was 25%
for the three-year consolidation group, compared to 54% for the
one-year group.
After three years, 9% of the HBeAg-positive
patients and 14% of the HBeAg-negative patients became HBsAg-negative.
"Prolonged consolidation therapy increased the likelihood of HBsAg
loss," researchers noted.
Source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25752878
http://www.hbvadvocate.org/news/HBJ12.4.htm
Labels: benefits of antivirals, relapse risk
