Hepatitis B "360"

There is an extremely high burden of liver disease owing to viral hepatitis B (HBV); about 2 billion people are infected and 350 million are chronic carriers of HBV worldwide. More effective medical therapy and liver transplantation are available for those with advancing disease. The interaction between the host immune system and the virus influences the rate of development of advanced liver disease or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); treatment that successfully reduces viral replication of HBV also reduces the incidence of development of advanced liver disease and HCC. Liver transplantation for HBV has yielded favorable outcomes since the institution of hepatitis B immune globulin and antiviral therapy. The ability to stabilize and rescue some patients with advanced liver disease owing to HBV has resulted in a changing demographic for patients with HBV undergoing liver transplantation. The main indications for transplant owing to HBV are now acute liver failure (both acute and acute reactivation on the background of chronic HBV) and HCC. Use of donor organs exposed to HBV with positive HBV core antibody is now routinely accepted for its good outcomes, and in selected cases with active HBV, HBV surface antigen-positive donors may be utilized to further expand the donor pool. Another indication for antiviral therapy for HBV is to reduce the risk of reactivation of latent virus in some patients previously exposed to HBV who are being treated with chemotherapy. Health care providers with HBV infection have an obligation to appropriately treat or monitor their disease closely to reduce the risk of transmission of disease from provider to patient. In the future, universal vaccination will reduce the overall burden of HBV liver disease, but until then appropriate utilization of available medical and surgical therapeutic options gives excellent clinical outcomes.