HBV Reactivation and Lamivudine Treatment in Patients with Lymphoma Undergoing Chemotherapy: Four Cases

Abstract

Chronic hepatitis patients undergoing immunosupressive or cytotoxic treatment may develop acute hepatitis or fulminant hepatitis due to reactivation of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and these patients may lose their lives after their treatments are discontinued. Lamivudine which was the first oral drug developed against chronic hepatitis in 1999 is a nucleoside analogue, and it shows its effect by inhibiting reverse transcriptase enzyme. Lamivudine has also been shown to be relatively safe for its side effects when compared with the interferon treatment. In this article we reported the HBV reactivation in four cases of HBV carriers with lymphoma to whom chemotherapy was applied, and the effectiveness and safety of the lamivudine treatment.

Keywords

• Lymphoma
• Viral activation
• Hepatitis B virus
• Lamivudine