title: Current treatment guidelines for chronic hepatitis B and their applications.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Treatment practices for patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) varies across the world and several professional associations have issued treatment recommendations. This synopsis aims to review the major principles of CHB and its management, and to systematically summarize and compare the recommendations of the major treatment guidelines by: the Asian-Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver, the US Panel, the European Association for the Study of the Liver, and the American Association for the Study of the Liver.
  
  
  METHODS
  Treatment recommendations were summarized separately for hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive and HBeAg-negative patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Treatment for CHB is recommended on the basis of a variety of host and viral factors, and the ultimate goal of treatment is the prevention of decompensated liver disease, hepatocellular carcinoma, cirrhosis, and premature death. Despite updates and improvements in these guidelines during the past decade, greater patient and physician education as well as better noninvasive markers to identify high-risk patients are still needed. Significant improvements in the application of current practice guidelines, however, can be made by relatively simple educational efforts, and new molecular and genomic techniques may hold promise for more accurate selection of high-risk patients for further therapeutic interventions in a near future.
authors.affiliation: *Department of Medicine, Stanford University Medical Center †Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Stanford University Medical Center, Palo Alto ‡Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of California, San Diego, CA §School of Medicine, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI.
authors.forename: Lindsay A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Uribe
authors.forename: Connor G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: O'Brien
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Robert R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Gish
authors.forename: Naoky
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: Mindie H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Nguyen
mesh_terms: D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014943:Global Health; D006513:Hepatitis B e Antigens / Q000097:blood*; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D006513:Hepatitis B e Antigens