Treating Immunocompromised Patients with Hepatitis B

In a presentation at ID Week 2018, Kenneth Sherman, MD, Gould Professor of Medicine at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, discussed hepatitis B infections in immunocompromised patients and what clinicians should expect to see in the future for hepatitis B treatment.

Interview transcript: (modified slightly for readability)Contagion®: What should clinicians know about treating immunocompromised patients with hepatitis B?

Dr. Sherman: Immunocompromised patients with hepatitis B are at risk for increased rates of disease progression, related to the presence of hepatitis B. Those patients have higher levels of ALT which reflects higher levels of inflammation which leads to higher rates of hepatic fibrosis.

Therefore, at any given time in the course of the disease, those patients will end up with more likelihood of having eventually cirrhosis and all of the complications that accompany cirrhosis. Often these may be unrecognized until the patient presents with decompensated liver disease