New clinical practice guidelines on the management of hepatitis B were published this year in Annals of Internal Medicine. These guidelines are the result of the latest National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference Statement on hepatitis B. The statement reflects the panel’s assessment of medical knowledge available at the time the statement was written.
The panel experts were charged with answering the following critical questions about the management of hepatitis B:
What is the current burden of hepatitis B?
What is the natural history of hepatitis B?
What are the benefits and risks of the current therapeutic options for hepatitis B?
Which persons with hepatitis B should be treated?
What measures are appropriate to monitor therapy and assess outcomes?
What are the greatest needs and opportunities for future research on hepatitis B?
The panel also considered oral and written comments from conference attendees while developing the following statement.
Download PDF file: 2009 Clinical practice guidelines on the management of hepatitis B infection