Final Statement from Consensus Development Conference on Management of Hepatitis B

This past October, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) held a Consensus Development Conference on the management of hepatitis B.

The conference brought together an independent panel of experts in Bethesda, MD, to examine the latest evidence on the management of hepatitis B and to identify future research needs.

The panel was charged with answering the following critical questions about the management of hepatitis B:

What is the current burden of hepatitis B?

What is the natural history of hepatitis B?

What are the benefits and risks of the current therapeutic options for hepatitis B?

Which persons with hepatitis B should be treated?

What measures are appropriate to monitor therapy and assess outcomes?

What are the greatest needs and opportunities for future research on hepatitis B?

The final statement from the conference -- based on the expert presentations, literature review, and audience commentary -- is now available, published in the January 20, 2009 Annals of Internal Medicine and available free online.

Among its recommendations, the panel called for more rigorous clinical trials of the effectiveness of interferon and the various targeted antiviral drugs for chronic hepatitis B, including studies of combination therapy and long-term trials to evaluate outcomes such as liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The experts also recommended more consistent and systematic monitoring of hepatitis B patients.

The statement reflects the panel's assessment of medical knowledge available at the time the statement was written. Thus, it provides a "snapshot in time" of the state of knowledge about the management of hepatitis B, according to the NIH. When reading the statement, keep in mind that new knowledge is inevitably accumulating through medical research, and that the information provided is not a substitute for professional medical care or advice.

1/13/09

Reference
MF Sorrell, EA Belongia, J Costa, and others. National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference Statement: Management of Hepatitis B. Annals of Internal Medicine 150(2): January 20, 2009. (Abstract).