Abstract: Objective To investigate the effects of different antiviral therapies on liver histology in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients and discuss the best treatment regimen. Methods A total of 142 CHB patients were enrolled, and their drug history, treatment course, liver function, virology, serology, liver histology and other related prognosis factors were retrospectively analyzed. Results Complete virological response rate was 58.93% in interferon (IFN) group (33/56), 90.20% in nucleoside analogues (NAs) group (46/51) and 0 in non-antiviral group, respectively. HBeAg loss rate was 39.29% in IFN group (22/56), 15.68% in NAs group (7/51) and 6% in non-antiviral group (2/35), respectively. HBsAg loss rate was 21.43% in IFN group (12/56), 1.96% in NAs group (1/51) and 0 for non-antiviral group, respectively. In terms of histological response, inflammation improvement within 1-year-course treatment was IFN group > NAs group > non-antiviral group, while for over 1-year-course treatment was NAs group > IFN group > non-antiviral group. However, fibrosis improvement from high to low extent was NAs group, IFN group and non-antiviral group regardless of the course of treatment. Conclusion Both IFN and NAs antiviral therapies could achieve significantly histological improvement, especially NAs treatment for more than 2 years.

Key words: Hepatitis B; Antiviral therapy; Response of virology;Histology changes