Lamivudine treatment-related morphological changes of esophageal varices in patients with liver cirrhosis.
OBJECTIVE
Many studies have reported the therapeutic effects of lamivudine on cirrhotic patients with hepatitis B; however, no study has investigated the morphological changes of esophageal varices after lamivudine treatment.


METHODS
The morphological changes of esophageal varices in patients with cirrhosis were retrospectively compared between 12 patients treated with lamivudine and six historical untreated patients.


RESULTS
In the treated group, the HBV DNA and hyaluronic acid (HA) levels in the serum were significantly lower than those in the untreated group (P = 0.013 and P = 0.009, respectively) at the end of follow-up, with a significant improvement in the Child-Pugh-Turcotte score (P = 0.022). In the treated group, the disappearance or reduction of esophageal varices was observed in six (50%) of the 12 patients. In three (25%) of the 12 patients, esophageal varices worsened. In the remaining three patients (25%), there were no changes in esophageal varices. In the untreated group, all patients showed the worsening of esophageal varices during the follow-up period, with a significant difference between this group and the treated group (P = 0.009). The serum HA level decreased in the nine treated patients without worsening of esophageal varices. However, in the three patients with worsening, the HA level significantly increased.


CONCLUSIONS
Lamivudine treatment for patients with cirrhosis improves not only liver function but also esophageal varices.
Koga
Hiroyuki
H
Second Department of Internal Medicine, Kurume University School of Medicine, Kurume, Japan.
Ide
Tatsuya
T
Oho
Kazuhiko
K
Kuwahara
Reiichiro
R
Hino
Teruko
T
Ogata
Kei
K
Hisamochi
Akiko
A
Tanaka
Kazuo
K
Kumashiro
Ryukichi
R
Toyonaga
Atsushi
A
Sata
Michio
M