Secondary prevention of hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma with current antiviral therapies
Jonggi Choi 1 , Young-Suk Lim 1
Affiliations
Affiliation
1
Department of Gastroenterology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
PMID: 33502828 DOI: 10.1002/kjm2.12364
Abstract
Over the past decades, marked advancement has been made in the prevention and treatment of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Due to highly effective antiviral therapies for chronic hepatitis B (CHB), long-term clinical outcomes in patients with CHB has also been dramatically improved. However, current antiviral therapies for CHB cannot completely abolish the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In addition, current treatment guidelines for CHB should be interpreted with caution given that HBV-associated hepatocarcinogenesis could be underway in patients who are not eligible for antiviral therapies by current guidelines. Therefore, efforts to reconcile treatment guidelines with recent clinical evidence should be made for reducing further development of HCC. In this article, we review the secondary prevention of HBV-related HCC with current antiviral therapies.
Keywords: disease burden; hepatitis B virus; hepatocellular carcinoma.