Abstract
Lamivudine, an oral nucleoside analogue, effectively inhibits hepatitis B virus replication and reduces hepatic necroinflammation in patients with chronic hepatitis B. Although lamivudine has shown a promise in patients with chronic hepatitis B, a long-term data on Korean patients with hepatitis B are lacking. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects and safety of 52-week lamivudine therapy in Korean patients with chronic hepatitis B, A total of twenty-nine patients (27 male and 2 female) who had received 100 mg of oral lamivudine daily for 52 weeks were evaluated, retrospectively. The mean age of 29 patients in the study group was 37.7 $\pm$ 8.9 years (range 19-54). Pretreatment HBV PCR and HBsAg were positive in all 29 patients, and HBeAg were positive in 25 patients (86%). The serum HBV DNA of 28 patients (97%) significantly fell to undetectable levels (<5 pg/ml) within 12 weeks of therapy and it remained undetectable in 24 patients (83%) by the end of 52-week therapy (p<0.001). Mean serum ALT levels of 29 patients declined to the normal range within 12 weeks and remained within the normal range during the evaluative period (p<0.05). The proportions of patients with HBeAg seroconversion (loss of HBeAg, development of antibody to HBeAg, and undetectable HBV DNA) were 42% after 52-week therapy. The differences of response to lamivudine therapy in HBeAg- positive and HBeAg-negative patients were negligible (p>0.05). Furthermore, the study showed that pretreatment serum HBV DNA and ALT levels have no effect to the efficacy of lamivudine therapy (p>0.05). Further comparison of lamivudine's efficacy showed that lamivudine is just as efficacious in patients with cirrhosis as without cirrhosis (p>0.05). In conclusion, lamivudine is an effective and safe therapy for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B in Korean patients.
