Despite the effective management of most cases of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, there is still much room for improvement in the treatment of more severe cases of hepatitis B, such as those occurring in patients with decompensated cirrhosis, in transplanted subjects, and in patients with exacerbations of HBV infection. Among the treatments currently approved for the therapy of hepatitis B, ...

Entecavir (ETV) is an oral nucleoside analog inhibitor of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA polymerase, which is widely used in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). Despite the excellent safety data of this agent, the adverse events of headache, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting are recorded in the drug instruction of ETV. Here we report two CHB patients with ETV-associated constipation in whom sympt...

Entecavir is a cyclopentyl deoxyguanosine analog that was approved for the treatment of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) in 2005. In Phase III trials, it showed potent HBV suppression with drops of 6- to 7-log copies/mL in HBV DNA at 1 year. In addition, rates of genotypic resistance in nucleos(t)ide-naïve patients are low, reaching only 1.2% after 6 years. Safety and efficacy have been established ...

Over the past several decades, entecavir (ETV) and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) have remained first-line antiviral agents in international guidelines. These two shown similar short to intermediateterm efficacy, including virologic, biochemical, serologic, histologic responses. However, huge controversies regarding efficacy of ETV TDF preventing development hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) ...

Of the estimated 400 million patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) globally, approximately 75% are Asians, representing a clinically important subgroup with a higher risk of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma than Caucasian patients. This review summarizes recent data from clinical long-term and real-life studies of entecavir and tenofovir, the recommended first-line oral therapies for tr...

It has been difficult to prove that hepatitis B treatment reduces the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma. Most previous studies have been retrospective without adequate controls. In this issue of Hepatology Hosaka et al present data on a large cohort, propensity matched for HCC risk with historical controls, demonstrating that HCC incidence is reduced with entecavir therapy Page 2 of 6 Hepat...