title: Does hepatitis B virus therapy reduce the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Liver cancer is one of the most common cancers. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents > 90% of primary liver cancers and is a major global health problem today. Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is associated with more than half of HCCs.
  
  
  METHODS
  Long-term therapy with nucleos(t)ide analogues (NUCs) improves outcomes in HBV-infected patients by slowing the progression of liver disease. It is associated with improvements in histological and clinical outcomes, improved patient survival, reduced need for liver transplantation and improved liver function in patients with decompensated liver disease. This review highlights the results of previous studies conducted on HCC prevention with long-term NUC therapy. Studies include the use of all available drugs in different clinical scenarios, and the comparison between treated and untreated patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  NUCs have been studied extensively in HCC prevention. A comprehensive review of the literature has shown that they can be safely and effectively used for this purpose. Despite some discrepancies between studies, most of the evidence favors using NUC therapy for HCC prevention.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Educación Médica e Investigaciones Clínicas Norberto Quirno "CEMIC", Hepatology Section, Department of Medicine , Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires , Argentina +54 11 4809 1980 ; +54 11 4809 1992 ; eridruejo@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ezequiel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ridruejo
mesh_terms: D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000821:virology; D018450:Disease Progression; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000821:virology; D012306:Risk; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents
keywords: chronic HBV infection; entecavir; hepatocellular carcinoma; nucleos(t)ide analogues; prevention; tenofovir