Foundational Overview of HDV

CE / CME

Hepatitis Delta in Focus: A Foundational Overview of HDV

Pharmacists: 0.75 contact hour (0.075 CEUs)

Nurses: 0.75 Nursing contact hour

Physicians: Maximum of 0.75 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit

Released: December 09, 2022

Expiration: December 08, 2023

Nancy Reau
Nancy Reau, MD

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Patient Case: Final Comments

What happened next to our patient?

She was nervous about her HDV diagnosis. After discussions about the use of peginterferon monotherapy for HDV treatment, she opted to wait for the approval of newer therapies, like BLV.

Key Take-home Points

HDV is an important global disease infecting up to 60 million individuals worldwide. It is a defective RNA virus that requires HBsAg for infection; up to 13% of HBV carriers are coinfected with HDV.6,7

HDV is the most severe form of viral hepatitis. Compared with HBV monoinfection, patients have accelerated disease progression and are at increased risk for cirrhosis, liver cancer, and mortality.7

Optimizing screening in HBsAg-positive patients remains key to identifying patients with HDV. Although many guidelines recommend risk-based screening, it is suggested that all patients who are HBsAg positive should be screened for HDV. This can be done with an anti-HDV or HDV antigen followed by confirmatory testing with an HDV RNA.12 Liver cancer surveillance should be considered in all HDV polymerase chain reaction–positive patients who are at high risk for clinical complications.1

Until recently, there were no approved therapeutic options. Peginterferon-α has been the off-label standard of care, but many new therapies such as European Medicines Agency–approved BLV are expected to be more widely available in the future.17