In patients who have chronic hepatitis B without cirrhosis, hepatitis B viral load may help predict risk for developing hepatocellular carcinoma.
Chronic hepatitis B infection is the leading cause of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); however, not everyone with chronic hepatitis B receives treatment — or develops HCC — so a prognostic indicator might be useful, especially for those patients without cirrhosis who have no indication for treatment. Investigators developed a predictive model based on 20,000 patients at four sites in Asia with chronic hepatitis B who were treatment naïve and noncirrhotic and had serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels <2 times the upper limit of normal. After exclusions, 6949 patients (from a previous study in South Korea) formed the derivation cohort and 7429 patients (from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Korea) comprised the validation cohort.
Throughout an over…
Reviewing Author
DisclosuresGrant/Research SupportNIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; NIH/National Institute on Drug Abuse
Editorial BoardsJAIDS: Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes; Vaccines
Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesInternational Antiviral Society–USA (Board of Directors); Infectious Diseases Society of America (Past President)
DisclosuresGrant/Research SupportNIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; NIH/National Institute on Drug Abuse
Editorial BoardsJAIDS: Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes; Vaccines
Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesInternational Antiviral Society–USA (Board of Directors); Infectious Diseases Society of America (Past President)