[Famciclovir treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection].

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the effects of famciclovir treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection.

METHODS

Eighty-nine patients with chronic HBV infection were randomly divided into three groups. Thirty-two patients were treated with famciclovir, 29 patients and 28 patients with chronic HBV infection were treated with interferon (IFN) alpha and lamivudine, respectively, as the control.

RESULTS

The serum HBV DNA became negative after treatment in 40.62% (13/32) of patients treated with famciclovir, 37.93% (11/29) of patients treated with IFN alpha, and 67.90% (19/28) of patients treated with lamivudine. The rate of serum HBeAg loss for the three groups were 21.88% (7/32), 41.38% (12/29) and 21.43% (6/28), respectively. The average time for patients to become serum HBV DNA negative was 1.3 months.

CONCLUSIONS

Famciclovir is an effective and safe nucleoside drug for the treatment of patients with chronic HBV infection.