Therapy for HBV Infection in Hemodialysis Patients: Is it Possible?

Despite the use of preventive measures, particularly hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine, and recent advances in antiviral therapy, chronic HBV infection has still remained a public health concern among infected dialysis patients because it results in an increased risk of morbidity and mortality (1). However, Alavian et al. have shown that the prevalence of HBV infection among hemodialysis (HD) patients in Iran declined to 2.4 - 2.6% in 2005 (2, 3). Furthermore, the clinical course and natural history of HBV infection are different in dialysis and nondialysis patients, and it may lead to a unique clinical problem in dialysis subjects. In addition, limited data are available on the optimal therapy of chronic HBV infection in dialysis patients. Therefore, in this article we discuss whether antiviral therapy is possible in infected dialysis patients with HBV.