Antiviral therapy may prevent liver cancer in patients with hepatitis B

the Oncology Nurse Advisor take:

The results of a first-of-its-kind analysis of more than 2,600 adult participants with hepatitis B revealed the anticancer properties of antiviral therapy for hepatitis B. The antiviral therapy prevents hepatitis B from developing into hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common form of liver cancer. HCC typically occurs in persons 50 years or older and is more common in men. During a 5-year follow-up period, researchers found that those patients treated with antiviral therapy had significantly lower occurrence of HCC.