• Chang-Zheng Li, Liu-Fang Cheng, Qing-Shan Li, Zhi-Qiang Wang, and Jun-Hong Yan.
• Chang-Zheng Li, Qing-Shan Li, Jun-Hong Yan, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Institute of Hepatobiliary and Gastrointestinal Diseases, Chinese Second Artillery General Hospital, Beijing 100088, China.
• World J. Gastroenterol. 2013 Oct 28; 19 (40): 6849-56.

AimTo investigate the effect of antiviral therapy with nucleoside analogs in hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related cirrhosis and esophageal varices.MethodsEligible patients with HBV-related cirrhosis and esophageal varices who consulted two tertiary hospitals in Beijing, China, the Chinese Second Artillery General Hospital and Chinese PLA General Hospital, were enrolled in the study from January 2005 to December 2009. Of 117 patients, 79 received treatment with different nucleoside analogs and 38 served as controls. Bleeding rate, change in variceal grade and non-bleeding duration were analyzed. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression was used to identify factors related to esophageal variceal bleeding.ResultsThe bleeding rate was decreased in the antiviral group compared to the control group (29.1% vs 65.8%, P < 0.001). Antiviral therapy was an independent factor related to esophageal bleeding in multivariate analysis (HR = 11.3, P < 0.001). The mean increase in variceal grade per year was lower in the antiviral group (1.0 ± 1.3 vs 1.7 ± 1.2, P = 0.003). Non-bleeding duration in the antiviral group was prolonged in the Kaplan-Meier model. Viral load rebound was observed in 3 cases in the lamivudine group and in 1 case in the adefovir group, all of whom experienced bleeding. Entecavir and adefovir resulted in lower bleeding rates (17.2% and 28.6%, respectively) than the control (P < 0.001 and P = 0.006, respectively), whereas lamivudine (53.3%) did not (P = 0.531).ConclusionAntiviral therapy delays the progression of esophageal varices and reduces bleeding risk in HBV-related cirrhosis, however, high-resistance agents tend to be ineffective for long-term treatment.

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