| News From Transplant Week of May 12, 2002 / Vol. 3 No. 19 |
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Study: Treatment With Lamivudine May Delay Need for Liver Transplant |
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Researchers report that treatment with lamivudine does not appear to improve the survival rate of chronic hepatitis B patients awaiting liver transplantation, but it does seem to delay the need for a transplant in some patients with less advanced liver failure. Dr. Anna S.F. Lok of the University of Michigan said the researchers studied data on 167 lamivudine-treated and 147 untreated patients awaiting transplants at 20 North American hospitals to determine whether lamivudine improved survival for patients with hepatitis B related cirrhosis. Survival rates among those awaiting transplants who were treated with lamivudine were similar to those who did not receive lamivudine treatment, the researchers reported in the journal Liver Transplantation. But, the researcher said, the study showed that "a subset of patients with less advanced liver failure may derive clinical benefit from lamivudine therapy, thus delaying the need for liver transplantation." "In
the absence of prospective, randomized, controlled trials of lamivudine
in patients with decompensated cirrhosis, careful selection of
patients and optimal timing of treatment are needed to balance
the risk versus benefit of lamivudine therapy in (liver transplant)
candidates," the researchers concluded. Other sources: Liver Transplantation |
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