Short-term clinical effect of telbivudine in the treatment chronic hepatitis B

Objective To study the efficacy and safety of telbivudine in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B (CHB).Methods A total 37 patients with CHB were divided in to two groups.Group one (n=21) patients were treated with telbivudine from the beginning and group two (n=16) patients were treated with telbivudine after treatment failure with adefovir dipivoxil.Each patient received 600mg daily for 24 weeks.Serum ALT,HBV DNA and creatine kinase levels were measured before and after treatment.Results After treatment,the level of serum ALT decreased dramatically in both groups (p0.05) but the decrease was not statistically significant between the two groups.After one month of treatment the mean reduction of HBV DNA from baseline didn't show significant difference between the two groups,but it reduced significantly after 3 to 6 months of treatment (p0.05).There was no significant difference in HBV DNA level and HBeAg seroconversion between the two groups at the end of treatment.Conclusion Telbivudine seems to be effective and safe in viral load reduction if it is taken at the beginning of treatment.