Does Chronic Hepatitis B Lead To Liver Cancer Or Cirrhoesis?

Posted on Sat, 8 Mar 2014

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sat, 8 Mar 2014 Answered on

Sat, 29 Mar 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : please is it always that any chronic hepatitis b patient is going to develop liver cancer or cirrhoesis or suffer the consequence of the infection

Answered by Dr. Vaddadi Suresh (1 hour later)

Brief Answer: It depends on various factors. Detailed Answer: hi XXXX welcome to HCM. It depends on various factors. 1-2% of patients of chronic hepatitis every year develop cirrhosis. the incidence of liver cancer is much lesser. If no drugs are used and the viral load is high, the chances of development of cirrhosis will speed up. Hope this helped.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Vaddadi Suresh (7 hours later)

Dr. could you please interpret for me this laboratory test results : HBsAg -, HBsAb -, HBeAg +, HBeAb +, HBcAb - what is the health faith

Answered by Dr. Vaddadi Suresh (16 minutes later)

Brief Answer: Is HBsAg negative or positive? Detailed Answer: Are you sure you were diagnosed with chronic hepatitis? Results say otherwise. Is HBsAg negative or positive?

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Vaddadi Suresh (5 hours later)

yes Dr i have the results with me here and its exactly what i have given above,yes the HBsAg is negative. in fact i was diagnosed 2 years ago and i went for another test three days that is 5th of march and according the BMS said "its acute and very mild". i was soo confused after i had read on the net that after six months it is chronic. and Dr trust me does the results i have given. so am quiet worried because almost 3 years now

Answered by Dr. Vaddadi Suresh (5 hours later)

Brief Answer: unlikely to be chronic hepatitis Detailed Answer: The results given by you don't support the diagnosis of chronic hepatitis. We call it chronic hepatitis only when hbsag is positive. Presence of anti hbeab indicate recovery from past hepatitis. However there are some exceptions. You may go for DNA PCR for hepatitisB which will aid in diagnosis. At present, it seems like you are a recovered case of viral hepatitis. No need to worry. All the best.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar