Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Feb 14, 2015; 21(6): 1738-1748
Published online Feb 14, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i6.1738
Management of patients with hepatitis B in special populations
Evangelos Cholongitas, Konstantinos Tziomalos, Chrysoula Pipili
Evangelos Cholongitas, 4th Department of Internal Medicine, Medical School of Aristotle University, Hippokration General Hospital of Thessaloniki, 54642 Thessaloniki, Greece
Konstantinos Tziomalos, First Propedeutic Department of Internal Medicine, Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, AHEPA Hospital, 54642 Thessaloniki, Greece
Chrysoula Pipili, Department of Nephrology, Laiki Merimna, 14232 Athens, Greece
Author contributions: Cholongitas E and Pipili C contributed equally to this paper; all authors participated in writing the manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Evangelos Cholongitas, Assistant Professor, 4th Department of Internal Medicine, Medical School of Aristotle University, Hippokration General Hospital of Thessaloniki, 49 Konstantinopoleos Street, 54642 Thessaloniki, Greece. cholongitas@yahoo.gr
Telephone: +30-231-0892110 Fax: +30-231-0992940
Received: September 8, 2014
Peer-review started: September 9, 2014
First decision: October 14, 2014
Revised: October 27, 2014
Accepted: November 18, 2014
Article in press: November 19, 2014
Published online: February 14, 2015
Core Tip

Core tip: The management of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in special populations is reviewed. HBV patients with decompensated cirrhosis should receive nucleos(t)ides analogs (NAs) before and after liver transplantation. The choice of NA for patients with chronic kidney disease, renal transplant candidates and recipients depends on viremia levels, the severity of renal dysfunction and previous viral resistance. Children at the immune-active period may receive interferon or NAs. Pregnant women at risk of perinatal transmission should receive class B antiviral drugs or LAM. HBV patients receiving immunosuppressives should receive antiviral therapy based on HBV serological profile, HBV DNA detectability and intensity of immunosuppression.