Clinical controversies over antiviral therapy for patients in the immune-tolerant phase of hepatitis B virus infection / 临床肝胆病杂志

ABSTRACT

To achieve the goal of “eliminating viral hepatitis as a public health hazard by 2030”， extensive screening， active prevention， and antiviral therapy are currently recommended for chronic hepatitis B virus （HBV） infection； however， no consensus has been reached on whether to initiate antiviral therapy for patients in the immune-tolerant phase of chronic HBV infection. Some experts believe that patients in the immune-tolerant phase tend to have a stable liver immune microenvironment， with a low risk of disease progression and poor response to treatment， and thus it is not recommended to initiate antiviral therapy. However， various other studies have shown that patients in the immune-tolerant phase still have inflammatory damage in the liver， with a risk of disease progression and a high level of cost effectiveness， and therefore， some experts suggest that antiviral therapy should be actively initiated for patients in the immune-tolerant phase. This article performs a literature review of the definition of patients in the immune-tolerant phase of chronic HBV infection and the advantages and disadvantages of antiviral therapy and conducts a preliminary analysis based on previous studies， in order to accumulate the evidence for whether to initiate antiviral therapy in the immune-tolerant phase of chronic HBV infection and lay a foundation for standardized clinical diagnosis and treatment of patients in the immune-tolerant phase.