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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Mar 18, 2016; 8(8): 385-394
Published online Mar 18, 2016. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v8.i8.385
Management of hepatitis B reactivation in immunosuppressed patients: An update on current recommendations
Fernando Bessone, Melisa Dirchwolf
Fernando Bessone, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, School of Medicine, University of Rosario, Rosario 2000, Argentina
Melisa Dirchwolf, Department of Hepatology, Muñiz Hospital, Buenos Aires 1282, Argentina
Author contributions: Bessone F and Dirchwolf M contributed equally to this review article.
Conflict-of-interest statement: None of the authors have received fees for serving as a speaker or consultant, nor have they received research funding in relation to this 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: Fernando Bessone, MD, Full Professor of Gastroenterology, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, School of Medicine, University of Rosario, Urquiza 3100, Rosario 2000, Argentina. bessonefernando@gmail.com
Telephone: +54-341-4393511 Fax: +54-341-4393511
Received: May 23, 2015
Peer-review started: May 25, 2015
First decision: August 16, 2015
Revised: January 15, 2016
Accepted: March 7, 2016
Article in press: March 9, 2016
Published online: March 18, 2016
Core Tip

Core tip: Chronic hepatitis B surface antigen carriers have a high risk to develop hepatitis B virus (HBV) reactivation (HBVr) when exposed to immunosupresive therapy. The loss of immune control in these patients may results in an increase in HBV replication. There is a wide spectrum of associated drugs with specific and stratified risk for the development of HBVr. Currently, HBVr incidence seems to increase worldwide, mainly due to the appearance of more powerful immunosuppressive drugs. This review article focus on when to treat, when to monitor, what patients should receive HBV therapy, and what drugs should be selected in each scenario. We updated here current HBV management guidelines.