LAUSR

Many studies have demonstrated that monotherapy with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) or entecavir (ETV) can reduce the risk of liver complications in individuals chronically infected with HBV (CHB). Unclear is whether one monotherapy is more effective than the other at preventing these outcomes. In a recent issue of this journal, Lee and coworkers1 reported data from a large population of treatment-naive CHB patients in which risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), all-cause mortality or liver transplantation was similar with either monotherapy. Similar results were observed in subgroups of patients with chronic hepatitis or cirrhosis. While this study involved more than 7000 South Korean patients who were enrolled during more than a decade and whose virological and biochemical data over several years were analysed, its findings must be treated with caution because the two groups differed substantially in median …