No abstract available.

No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Diagnosis* ; Hepatitis B, Chronic* ; Hepatitis, Chronic*

No abstract available.
Diagnosis* ; Hepatitis B, Chronic* ; Hepatitis, Chronic*

No abstract available.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/*diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms/*diagnosis ; Male ; Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease/*diagnosis

Progressive hepatic fibrosis with development of cirrosis is a feature of chronic liver disease. Assessing fibrosis is important for predicting disease progression and patient management. Liver biopsy is the current gold standard for the diagnosis of liver fibrosis. However, liver biopsy is an invasive procedure. Alternative non-invasive methods have been developed. Serum markers are useful in predicting liver cirrhosis, but accuracy of serum markers is not satisfactory in the assessment of fibrosis. Newly developed transient elastography (Fibroscan) is a non-invasive method of measuring liver stiffness. Fibroscan has been reported to be superior in early detection of cirrhosis to serum markers. Factors influencing it's performance are not fully investigated. The evaluation of new tests should be continued to perform.
Biological Markers/blood ; Chronic Disease ; Disease Progression ; Elasticity Imaging Techniques/methods ; Fibrosis ; Humans ; Hyaluronic Acid/analysis ; Liver/*pathology ; Liver Cirrhosis/*diagnosis/etiology

Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is a serious health problem in Korea. The natural history of chronic HBV infection has been divided into 4 phases: immune tolerance, immune clearance, inactive HBsAg carrier state and reactivation. During the phases of immune tolerance and inactive HBsAg carrier state, no treatment is required. Patients in the immune clearance or reactivation phases are candidates for therapy. In the last years, treatment effects of CHB have considerably improved. Several agents are currently approved for the treatment of CHB: interferon alpha, pegylated interferon alpha, lamivudine, adefovir, entecavir, telbivudine and clevudine in Korea. The treatment recommendations from the 2004 Korean Association for the Study of the Liver guideline on the management of CHB have been updated to incorporate new therapeutic options. What is uncertain is which agent or combination of agents is most effective, how long therapy should last, and which criteria should be used to start, continue, switch or stop therapy. Issues for consideration include efficacy, safety and incidences of resistance, and method of administration of antiviral therapy in treatment-naive patients.
Adenine/analogs & derivatives/therapeutic use ; Antiviral Agents/*therapeutic use ; Arabinofuranosyluracil/analogs & derivatives/therapeutic use ; Guanine/analogs & derivatives/therapeutic use ; Hepatitis B, Chronic/*drug therapy ; Humans ; Interferon Alfa-2a/therapeutic use ; Interferon Alfa-2b/therapeutic use ; Korea ; Lamivudine/therapeutic use ; Phosphonic Acids/therapeutic use ; Polyethylene Glycols/therapeutic use ; Practice Guidelines as Topic