Short-term overlap lamivudine treatment with adefovir dipivoxil in patients with lamivudine-resistant chronic hepatitis B.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the efficacy of short-term overlap lamivudine therapy with adefovir in patients with lamivudine-resistant and naive chronic hepatitis B, we compared patients receiving overlap therapy with those receiving adefovir alone.


METHODS
Eighty patients who had received lamivudine treatment for various periods and had a lamivudine-resistant liver function abnormality were enrolled. Forty of these patients received adefovir treatment combined with lamivudine treatment for > or = 2 mo, while the other 40 received adefovir alone. We assessed the levels of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA at 0, 12 and 48 wk and serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels after 0, 12, 24 and 48 wk of adefovir treatment in each group.


RESULTS
We found serum ALT became normalized in 72 (87.5%) of the 80 patients, and HBV DNA decreased by > or = 2 log10 copies/mL in 60 (75%) of the 80 patients at the end of a 48-wk treatment. HBV DNA levels were not significantly different between the groups. The improvements in serum ALT were also not significantly different between the two groups.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest short-term overlap lamivudine treatment results in no better virological and biological outcomes than non-overlap adefovir monotherapy.
Nam
Soon-Woo
SW
Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal medicine, Medical College of the Catholic University of Korea, Daejeon St. Mary's Hospital, #62 Daeheung-dong, Chung-gu, Daejeon, Republic of Korea. drswnam@hanmail.net
Bae
Si-Hyun
SH
Lee
Seung-Woo
SW
Kim
Yeon-Soo
YS
Kang
Sang-Bum
SB
Choi
Jong-Young
JY
Cho
Se-Hyun
SH
Yoon
Seung-Kew
SK
Han
Joon-Yeol
JY
Yang
Jin-Mo
JM
Lee
Young-Suk
YS
D000225:Adenine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D000328:Adult; D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D024882:Drug Resistance, Viral; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000201:enzymology; D006801:Humans; D019259:Lamivudine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D063065:Organophosphonates / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D019562:Viral Load
D000998:Antiviral Agents; D004279:DNA, Viral; D063065:Organophosphonates; D019259:Lamivudine; D000410:Alanine Transaminase; D000225:Adenine; C106812:adefovir dipivoxil