Entecavir (ETV) and tenofovir (TDF) are the first-line drugs for treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Chronic HBV infection gradually progress to liver cirrhosis. Over time, as liver damage and cirrhosis advance, the illness progress to a stage termed as decompensated cirrhosis, characterized by development of one or more of serious, life-threatening complications (ascites, hepatic encephalopathy, variceal bleeding or jaundice). In HBV related decompensated cirrhosis, antiviral treatment is shown to provide benefit. For HBV related decompensated cirrhosis, EVT is the drug of choice as it has been shown to be effective and safe. The usual dose of ETV for chronic HBV infection is 0.5 mg orally once daily. Somehow, the recommended dose of ETV for decompensated cirrhosis has been 1.0 mg/d. The literature provides no justification for using this double dose of ETV. Since 0.5 mg daily works well in other stages of disease, there is little reason why it should not work well even in treatment-naïve decompensated cirrhosis. Considering the limitations of available literature, physicians' are divided in their opinion about the drug dose and are prescribing either of the two doses of ETV for this group. Hence, there is a need to assess whether the usual 0.5 mg/d of ETV would work as well as the 1.0 mg/d dose of ETV in decompensated cirrhosis due to HBV infection. Investigators planned this open-labeled observational study with objective to compare the efficacy of HBV suppression achieved using 0.5 mg daily and 1.0 mg daily of ETV in HBV-related decompensated cirrhosis by comparing the mean reduction in HBV DNA level from baseline after 24 weeks of treatment. In present study investigators propose to enroll 15 participants in each group who has been started on either doses (0.5 mg and 1.0 mg) of entecavir and measure serum HBV DNA levels in blood specimens (5 ml) will be collected at different time points, i.e. at baseline, 2, 4, 8, 12 and 24 weeks after starting entecavir.
See this in plain English?
AI-rewrites the medical criteria so a patient or caregiver can understand them. Always confirm with the trial site.
Percent reduction in quantitative HBV DNA levels at 2 weeks post-treatment
Timeframe: 2 weeks from start of ETV treatment
Percent reduction in quantitative HBV DNA levels at 4 weeks post-treatment
Timeframe: 4 weeks from start of ETV treatment