title: Surgical treatment of HCC in a patient with lamivudine-resistant hepatitis B cirrhosis with adefovir dipivoxil.
abstract: We describe a 77-year-old woman with chronic hepatitis B who became resistant to lamivudine. She was started on adefovir (10 mg daily) while still continuing lamivudine therapy. Four mo later her liver function improved and serum Hepatitis B virus (HBV)-DNA level became undetectable. Three years after the start of additional adefovir treatment, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was detected and the patient underwent a successful hepatectomy. Our findings suggest that the addition of adefovir to ongoing lamivudine therapy cannot completely suppress hepatocarcinogenesis, but is useful for improving liver function in patients with lamivudine-resistant HBV-related cirrhosis, allowing HCC surgery.
authors.affiliation: Takashi Akima, Hideyuki Hiraishi, Department of Gastroenterology, Dokkyo Medical University, Tochigi 321-0293, Japan.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Akima
authors.forename: Masaya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tamano
authors.forename: Hidetsugu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamagishi
authors.forename: Keiichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kubota
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujimori
authors.forename: Hideyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hiraishi