Abstracts Open Access
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2000. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Sep 15, 2000; 6(Suppl3): 129-129
Published online Sep 15, 2000. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v6.iSuppl3.129
BCG vaccine combined with dipyridamole in the treatment of HBV infection
Xu-Wen Gao, Shi-Ying Jia, Xue-Mei Liu, Department of Internal Medicine, Jiaozhou Central Hospital of Qingdao, Jiaozhou 266300, Shandong Province, China
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to the work.
Correspondence to: Xu-Wen Gao, Department of Internal Medicine, Jiaozhou Central Hospital of Qingdao, Jiaozhou 266300, Shandong Province, China
Received: December 22, 1999
Revised: June 24, 2000
Accepted: July 10, 2000
Published online: September 15, 2000

Abstract

AIM: To investigate the effect of BCG vaccine and dipyridamole in treating hepatitis B due to their anti virus effects.

METHODS: Among 602 patients with positive HBeAg, 512 were allocated to the treatment group and 90 patients to the control group. There was no significant difference in disease and age between the two groups. All the patients in the treatment group with no abnormal findings by chest X-ray fluoroscopy, whose local skin scleromata diameters were less than 7 mm after the 1:2000 OT test, were given BCG vaccine 0.1 mL intracutaneously at the deltoid once a month, and simultaneously took dipyridamole 50 mg twice a day for four to eight months. The hepatic function, B-mode ultrasound and the five markers of hepatitis B were routinely examined before each injection. The results at one month after the last injection in the treatment group were compared with those of the control group.

RESULTS: The recovery rates of hepatic functions and the rates of improvement of the symptoms and signs in the treatment group were better than those in the control group. The negative transformation rates of HBeAg and the positive transformation rates of HBeAb were 60.3% and 31.6% in the treatment group vs 13.3% and 13.0% in the control group (P < 0.01, Test χ2, χ2 = 26.82, 6.81). The negative transformation rates of HBsAg and the positive transformation rates of HBsAb were 5.5% and 8.2% in the treatment group vs 5.6% and 9.9% in the control group (P > 0.05. Test χ2, χ2 = 1.11, 0.22).

CONCLUSION: The application of BCG vaccine in combination with dipyridamole increased the negative transformation rate of HBeAg and the positive transformation rate of HBeAb, improved the clinical symptoms, signs and hepatic function of the patients. These two drugs had significant anti-HBV effect and showed good efficacy in the treatment of HBV infection.

Key Words: Hepatitis B virus/therapy; BCG vaccine; Dipyridamole; Antiviral agents



Footnotes

E- Editor: Hu S

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