Entecavir Therapy in Turkish Adult Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B: One-Year Results from Izmir Province, Turkey

.background and aims: in the present study, we aimed to present the initial results of chronic hepatitis b patients who received entecavir (etv) therapy in our hospital in izmir, turkey.methods: a total of 52 patients were enrolled in the study. etv was given in a dosage of 0.5 mg/day and 1 mg/day to 50 patients without lamivudine/adefovir (lam/adv) resistance and to 2 patients with lam resistance, respectively. etv was given in a dose of 0.5 mg/day every three days to one patient with a renal transplant. the treatment duration was 48 weeks.results: out of a total of 52 patients, 23 (44.23%) were hepatitis b e antigen (hbeag)-positive, and 29 (55.77%) of them were hbeag-negative. in 29 hbeag-negative patients, early biochemical and virological responses were 82.6% and 100%, respectively.these responses were 97% and 79.3% in the 12th month. in hbeag-positive patients, early biochemical and virological responses were found to be 78.3% and 82.6%, respectively. they were 100% and 52.2% in the 12th month. hbeag seroconversion developed in 4.5% of hbeag-positive patients.conclusions: according to our one-year etv treatment results, both hbeag-negative and -positive patients had high biochemical and virological response rates. their hbeag seroconversion rate was 4.5%. in conclusion, more studies of longer duration are needed to understand the required duration of treatment, to assess its long-term effectiveness, and to check the resistance and side effects of etv. there is also a need to have late-phase results after treatment.