In patients with HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B, peginterferon alfa-2a offers superior efficacy over lamivudine, on the basis of HBeAg seroconversion, HBV DNA suppression, and HBsAg seroconversion.

Our study did not meet its primary end point of OS noninferiority for brivanib versus sorafenib. However, both agents had similar antitumor activity, based on secondary efficacy end points. Brivanib had an acceptable safety profile, but was less well-tolerated than sorafenib.

Sorafenib plus DEB-TACE was technically feasible, but the combination did not improve TTP in a clinically meaningful manner compared with DEB-TACE alone.

No abstract

T he goal of therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis B is the prevention of cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, and hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related mortality. 1 However, it is difficult to assess these outcomes during short-term clinical trials because of the prolonged natural history of chronic hepatitis B. Surrogate endpoints are used for assessing the efficacy of anti-HBV drugs. Reduction in hepatitis B virus deoxyribonucleic acid (HBV DNA) is an excellent measure of antiviral efficacy. However, a decrease in HBV DNA Abbreviations: HBeAg, hepatitis B e antigen; HBV, hepatitis B virus; NPV, negative predictive value. From the

Mass screening for pancreatic cancer using CA 19-9 levels in asymptomatic subjects is ineffective because of a very low positive predictive value, despite its high sensitivity and specificity.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the long-term survival results and complications of percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in patients with early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Between April 1999 and May 2005, 570 patients with 674 early-stage HCCs underwent percutaneous RFA as a first-line treatment option in a single institution. We evaluated the effectiveness rates, local tumor progression rates, survival rates, and complications. We also assessed the prognostic values of survival rates by using Cox proportional hazard models. The primary technique effectiveness rate was 96.7% (652 of 674). The cumulative rates of local tumor progression at 1, 2, and 3 years were 8.1%, 10.9%, and 11.8%, respectively. The cumulative survival rates at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years were 95.2%, 82.9%, 69.5%, 60.8%, and 58.0%, respectively. Patients with Child-Pugh class A cirrhosis, of younger age (

LLV observed during entecavir monotherapy was associated with a higher risk of HCC, especially for those with cirrhosis, indicating that LLV during potent antiviral therapy is consequential. (Hepatology 2017;66:335-343).