A study presented at The International Liver Congress 2016 in Barcelona, Spain, revealed a link between long-term oral nucleos(t)ide analogues and a higher risk of colorectal and cervical cancer in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus.
The study was conducted among more than 45,000 patients with chronic hepatitis B virus — more than 7,300 of whom received nucleos(t)ide analogue treatment. During follow-ups with the patients, those who received treatment were more likely to have developed malignancies than untreated patients.
"Although our analysis showed that nucleos(t)ide analogue treatment does not increase overall incidence of liver, lung, breast and urinary/renal malignancies, it did reveal that patients with hepatitis B virus on this treatment had a higher risk of developing colorectal and cervical cancers," said lead author Grace Wong, MD. "In light of these findings we strongly urge regular screening of these cancers to help prevent them from developing in patients taking nucleos(t)ide analogue treatment."
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