Antiviral efficacy of adefovir dipivoxil versus lamivudine in patients with chronic hepatitis B sequentially treated with lamivudine and adefovir due to lamivudine resistance

Figure 4 Changes in the status of hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) and anti-HBe after treatment with lamivudine and adefovir in patients with positive HBeAg. Before treatment with lamivudine, HBeAg was positive in 39 patients. After one year of treatment, 7 patients became HBeAg negative and 2 of these became anti-HBe positive. During treatment with lamivudine, 14 patients became HBeAg negative and 7 of these became anti-HBe positive. After development of viral breakthrough because of lamivudine-resistance, HBeAg reappeared in 8 of the 14 patients. HBeAg was positive in 33 patients before the treatment with adefovir. HBeAg became negative in 22 patients and 5 of them became anti-HBe positive after one year of treatment. The numerals in the boxes represent the number of patients according to the status of HBeAg and anti-HBe.