OBJECTIVETo investigate the efficacy of the 96-week antiviral therapy with adefovir dipivoxil in patients with chronic hepatitis B.

METHODS80 patients with chronic hepatitis B received the antiviral therapy of adefovir dipivoxil (ADV, 10 mg/d). At the 12th week, 19 cases without early viral response (EVR, HBV DNA drop < 2 log10copies/ml) switched to the therapy of other nucleoside analogues. Aminotransferase (ALT) normalization, HBV DNA negative, HBeAg loss and HBeAg seroconvertion were accessed at the 96th week.

RESULTSAt week 96, ALT normalization and HBV DNA negative in 61 patients with ADV therapy were 85.25% (52/61) and 95.08% (58/61); and HBeAg loss and HBeAg seroconvertion were 52.52% (17/33) and 42.42% (14/33) respectively. While for the other 19 patients switching to other nucleoside analogues, ALT normalization and HBV DNA negative came to 57.89% (11/19) and 68.42% (13/19). Both HBeAg loss and HBeAg seroconvertion were 58.33% (7/12).

CONCLUSIONLong term ADV antiviral therapy is effective to inhibit HBV DNA replications and benefits patients with chronic hepatits B. Switching to another nucleoside analogue is an optimal alternative if there is no EVR at week 12 in ADV therapy.