Premium
Current management of delta hepatitis
Author(s) -
Rizzetto Mario
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
liver international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.873
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1478-3231
pISSN - 1478-3223
DOI - 10.1111/liv.12058
Subject(s) - medicine , hepatitis d virus , interferon , hepatitis d , pegylated interferon , hepatitis delta , virology , gastroenterology , immunology , hepatitis , virus , chronic hepatitis , hepatitis b virus , hbsag , ribavirin
Interferon is the only therapy for chronic hepatitis D. Nucleos(t)ides are not effective against the helper hepatitis B virus. The current therapeutic recommendation is a weekly dose of pegylated interferon ( PEG ‐ IFN )‐α, for 12–18 months. Serum HDV ‐ RNA only becomes undetectable after 6 months of therapy in about a quarter of the patients. Hepatitis D v irus ( HDV ) may relapse in patients if they remain HB sAg positive. Although the end‐point of therapy is the clearance of the HB sAg, this is seldom achieved. Current management of HDV patients is based on standard practices which should be pragmatic and individualized.