Chronic hepatitis B

Abstract

PREAMBLEThese guidelines have been written to assist physicians and other health care providers in the recognition, diagnosis, and management of patients chronically infected with the hepatitis B virus (HBV).They are intended to suggest preferable approaches to the clinical management of chronic hepatitis B. The recommendations are flexible and are not intended as the only acceptable approach to management and treatment.As the appropriate course of treatment will vary in light of the relevant facts and circumstances surrounding each individual patient with chronic hepatitis B, guidelines are not intended to define the applicable standard of medical care and may be updated periodically as new information becomes available.These guidelines were developed under the auspices of, and approved by, the Practice Guidelines Committee of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.They should be taken as guidelines and not "standards of care."Data used to support the recommendations made were obtained by a literature search of peer-reviewed articles concerning the natural history, diagnosis, and treatment of chronic hepatitis B. In addition, the proceedings of a recent National Institutes of Health workshop on the "Management of Hepatitis B" were considered in the development of these guidelines. 1 The strength of each recommendation is categorized based on the quality of evidence in the literature according to the rating system indicated in Table 1. 2