[New aspect in the treatment of chronic hepatis B]

Abstract

The pegylated interferon is now the first choice of treatment for patients without a counter-indication. The association of this treatment with lamivudine does not increase the effectiveness. For patients non-responders to the PEG-IFN or presenting counter-indications, the long-term administration of lamivudine is limited by the frequent appearance of mutations, so that escape from the treatment requires the use of other antivirals. Adefovir is currently the treatment of choice in the event of resistance to lamivudine. Its effectiveness is confirmed by many studies and the risk of emergence of resistance is very low. Entecavir is a selective inhibitor of polymerase HBV and shows a better efficacy than lamivudine. It is well tolerated and is associated only with a weak risk of resistance, even after a prolonged treatment.