Clinical and virological outcomes of entecavir therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis B: A real life experience

Abstract Background Entecavir (ETV) is a nucleoside analogue (NA) that is effective for treatment of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) due to its low resistance rates and potent antiviral effects. We aimed to evaluate the clinical, biochemical and virological response to ETV in patients without a prior use of nucleos(t)ide (NA-naive) vs. those who failed prior NA use (NA-experienced) in the treatment of CHB. Methods Patients treated between April 2012 and December 2017 were retrospectively studied. A comparison was made between patients treated with ETV in NA-naive Vs. NA-experienced. Complete virological response (CVR) was defined as achieving undetectable HBV-DNA level, up to 15 IU/ml, partial virological response (PVR) as 15–200 IU/ml and >200 IU/ml for no virological response (NVR) after one year of therapy. Results Overall, 148 patients were included (69 NA-naive and 79 NA-experienced). In NA-naive group, 51%, 17% and 32% achieved CVR, PVR and NVR vs. 17%, 9% and 75% in NA-experienced group, respectively (p  Conclusion ETV therapy in CHB results in a better virological response in NA-naive patients compared to NA-experienced. There were no differences between both groups in regards to the rate of HBsAg or HBeAg seroconversions, biochemical improvements or mortality.