[New aspect in the treatment of chronic hepatis B].
The pegylated interferon is now the first choice of treatment for patients without a counter-indication. The association of this treatment with lamivudine does not increase the effectiveness. For patients non-responders to the PEG-IFN or presenting counter-indications, the long-term administration of lamivudine is limited by the frequent appearance of mutations, so that escape from the treatment requires the use of other antivirals. Adefovir is currently the treatment of choice in the event of resistance to lamivudine. Its effectiveness is confirmed by many studies and the risk of emergence of resistance is very low. Entecavir is a selective inhibitor of polymerase HBV and shows a better efficacy than lamivudine. It is well tolerated and is associated only with a weak risk of resistance, even after a prolonged treatment.
Morard
I
I
Division de gastroentérologie et d'hépatologie Département de médecine interne HUG, 1211 Geneve. isabelle.morard@hcuge.ch
Giostra
E
E
Negro
F
F
D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D018894:Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use
D000998:Antiviral Agents; D018894:Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors