Objective To investigate the effect of long-term antiviral treatment on clinical outcome and liver histology in patients with hepatitis B virus ( HBV)-related compensated cirrhosis .Methods A total of 61 patients with HBV-related compensated cirrhosis receiving antiviral therapy were enrolled from Taizhou Hospital of Zhejiang Province during September 2010 and March 2015, including 26 HBeAg-positive cases and 35 HBeAg-negative cases .Thirty-nine patients were treated with entecavir ( ETV ) and 22 were treated with adefovir dipivoxil ( ADV ) .Biochemical , serological and virological markers were examined every 3 months during treatment, and Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP) scores were calculated.All the patients underwent liver biopsy before and 144 weeks after antiviral treatment .Metavir scoring system was used to evaluate the liver histological activity ( A) and fibrosis score ( F) .Wilcoxon rank sum test and paired t-test were used for the evaluation of liver histopathology and liver function before and after treatment , respectively.Results After 144 weeks of antiviral treatment , HBV DNA was reduced and below the lower limit of detection in 58 patients (95.1%), HBeAg disappeared in 14 patients (14/26, 53.8%), and HBeAg seroconversion was observed in 10 patients (10/26, 38.5%); alanine aminotransferase ( ALT), aspartate amino transaminase (AST), total bilirubin (TBil) and CTP score decreased (t=7.489, 8.259, 14.000 and 6.026, all P<0.01), prothrombin time (PT) was shortened (t=9.777, P<0.01), and serum albumin (Alb) increased (t=3.446, P<0.01).Improvements in both liver histologic activity and fibrosis score were observed (Z=5.716 and 6.657, all P<0.01).Liver histological activity decreased from A1 to A0 in 16 cases, from A2 to A0 in 9 cases, from A2 to A1 in 15 cases, from A3 to A0 in 1 case, from A3 to A1 in 5 cases, and from A3 to A2 in 5 cases.Fibrosis score at the baseline was F 4 for all patients, while after treatment, there were 7 patients with F1, 22 with F2, 20 with F3, and F4 remained in rest 12 patients.Conclusion Both clinical and histological improvements can be obtained after long-term antiviral treatment for patients with HBV-related compensated cirrhosis .