Importance of adequate immunosuppressive therapy for the recovery of patients with “life-threatening” severe exacerbation of chronic hepatitis B

Figure 1 Prothrombin time activities (A), alanine transaminase levels (B), total bilirubin levels (C), and HBV DNA polymerase activities (D) before and after the administration of corticosteroids in 11 “early high-dose” and 11 “non-early high-dose” patients. Thick and thin lines denote those of “early high-dose” and “non-early high-dose”, respectively. A: The mean activity at each point was 41±13, 77±23 and 81±19% in “early high-dose” and 29±13, 37±22 and 32±32% in “non-early high-dose”, respectively. ¹Statistically significant (P = 0.006); B: The mean level at each point was 976±990, 225±200 and 100±53 IU/L in “early high-dose” and 816±1072, 191±292 and 97±67 IU/L in “non-early high-dose”, respectively. ²Statistically significant (P<0.001); C: The mean activity at each point was 6.7±4.3, 3.8±4.4 and 1.5±0.7 mg/dL in “early high-dose” and 12.8±6.8, 14.2±8.3 and 22.2±14.9 mg/dL in “non-early high-dose”, respectively; D: The mean level at each point was 2325±3879 and 1282±3022 cpm in “early high-dose”, and 6866±16981 and 44±86 cpm in “non-early high-dose”, respectively.