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VIDEO: Hepatitis B care requires stratifying patients by risk factors
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SAN ANTONIO — In this exclusive video from the National Liver Conference 2019, Robert Gish, MD, an adjunct professor at the University of Nevada Reno School of Medicine, provides an overview of a presentation on hepatitis B that focused on which patients benefit the most from treatment.
“We had a very exciting discussion today on hepatitis B led by Dr. Norah Terrault about who to treat with hepatitis B,” Gish told Healio Gastroenterology and Liver Disease. “We're looking at who not to treat. We're really biasing ourselves to treating most patients now, but to evaluate who to treat and how to treat, we have some questions to ask.”
According to Gish, stratifying patients by risk and clinical history is an important step during care for HBV. Some patients may be at high risk for progression or liver cancer, whereas others might likely clear the virus on their own or with cessation of treatment.
Additionally, some patients have a greater need for treatment, including women who are pregnant or planning to conceive and patients with concomitant liver complications such as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.
“Look at your patients. What are their risks for liver cancer, family history, viral load, risk for significant fibrosis ... [these] are all reasons to treat because these patients have a higher risk for liver cancer as well,” Gish said.
Reference: Terrault N. Hepatitis B Panel Discussion. Presented at: National Liver Conference; October 25, 2019; San Antonio.
Disclosure: Gish reports he is a consultant for Abbott, AbbVie, Access Biologicals, Alexion, Arrowhead, Bayer AG, Biocollections, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eiger, Eisai, Enyo, eStudySite, Fujifilm/Wako, Gilead Sciences, HepaTX, HepQuant, Intercept, Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Janssen, Lilly, Merck, Quest, Salix, Shionogi, Trimaran, and Viking Therapeutics; and on the speakers bureau for AbbVie, Bayer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Dova, Eisai and Gilead Sciences.