Lower liver-cancer risk seen with tenofovir treatment of chronic hepatitis B

Lower liver-cancer risk seen with tenofovir treatment of chronic hepatitis B
Last Updated: 2018-10-04

By Will Boggs MD
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) treated with tenofovir is lower than in those treated with entecavir, according to a nationwide study from South Korea.

"Patients with CHB have about 1% risk of developing HCC," Dr. Young-Suk Lim from the University of Ulsan College of Medicine, in Seoul, told Reuters Health by email. "Once diagnosed with HCC, the overall prognosis of the patients is very poor, with 5-year survival rate of less than 30%. Therefore, prevention of HCC is of utmost importance in the management of CHB patients."

Entecavir and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF), first-line antiviral agents for CHB infection, have similar efficacy for intermediate-term virologic, biochemical, serologic and histologic outcomes. Their relative efficacy in reducing HCC risk remains uncertain.

During follow-up, the incidence of HCC was significantly lower in the tenofovir group (0.64 per 100 person-years) than in the entecavir group (1.06 per 100 person-years), the researchers report in JAMA Oncology, online September 27....

Read the complete article here: 

http://www.chronicliverdisease.org/reuters/article.cfm?article=20181004Other1903160885

In The Journal

JAMA Oncology, online September 27:

doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2018.4070

 Risk of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Patients Treated With Entecavir vs Tenofovir for Chronic Hepatitis B A Korean Nationwide Cohort Study

Editorial

doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2018.4039 

Tenofovir vs Entecavir for Hepatocellular Carcinoma Prevention in Patients With Chronic Hepatitis B One of These Things Is Not Like the Other.