An Overview of the Current Hepatitis B Treatment Strategies After Liver Transplantation Publisher



Moghadam AD¹ ; Eslami P¹ ; Beirami AD¹ ; Iravani S² ; Farokhi E³ ; Mansourghanaei A⁴ ; Hashemi MR⁵ ; Pasha MA⁵ ; Mehrvar A² ; Nassiritoosi M³
Source: Middle East Journal of Digestive Diseases Published:2021

Abstract

Currently, liver transplantation (LT) is considered as the only option for the treatment of patients with various causes of liver failure, including patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections. Overall, patients with HBV who undergo LT are at increased risk of hepatitis B infection recurrence. Although the current knowledge regarding the pathophysiology of this infection has been dramatically increased over the past few decades, it is still considered a complex disease process with varying degrees of clinical characteristics and changing patterns over time. There are various treatment strategies for preventing HBV recurrence in the LT setting. Generally, these regimens include oral nucleoside/ nucleotide analogues (NAs), hepatitis B immune globulin (HBIG), and vaccines or the combination of these drugs. The treatment strategy of choice should be based on cost-effectiveness, along with other patients underlying conditions. In this case, studies indicate that potent NAs are more cost-effective than HBIG in most case scenarios. In this article, we aimed to review the general medications used in the prophylaxis of the recurrence of HBV infection after LT. © 2021 The Author(s).