Abstract
Serial examination of HBeAg concentration was performed in forty patients treated with antiviral agents and corticosteroid till six months after treatment. In every group of interferon (n=11), adenine arabinoside (n=15), adenine arabinoside 5'-monophosphate (n=5), corticosteroid (n=9), HBeAg concentration markedly reduced in six months after treatment and mean percent changes in its concentration from just before treatment in each group were -46.3%, -45.7%, -30.0%, -66.8%, respectively and those changes in interferon, adenine arabinoside, corticosteroid groups significantly differed from that (-13.8%) in control group (n=15). In all patients cleared HBeAg, HBeAg concentrations were under 1000 units at the start of treatment and mean value of those was significantly lower than that in the patients remained HBeAg positive.
These result suggest that antiviral and corticosteroid therapy accelerate the clearance of HBeAg from serum and shorten natural course of hepatitis associated with chronic hepatitis B Virus infection.
