Daily management and treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis B

  Recurrent activity of chronic hepatitis is the main cause of liver fibrosis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Appropriate treatment of chronic hepatitis, i.e., stopping hepatitis activity, reducing the degree of hepatitis activity, and decreasing the frequency of hepatitis activity are the basic strategies to prevent liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, and liver cancer.  The mechanisms leading to the persistence or chronicity of hepatitis B are not clear. However, it can be inferred that the genetic trait of chronic hepatitis B determines the course of hepatitis B virus infection. Patients present with acute hepatitis B if their immunity completely clears the virus, with persistent hepatitis B virus carriers if their immunity completely fails to clear the virus, and with chronic hepatitis B if their immunity fails to completely clear the virus. The majority of the population can completely clear the virus, a minority cannot completely clear the virus, and a very small minority cannot clear the virus at all. Of course natural and social factors, including medical factors, also have an important influence on the course of hepatitis B virus infection.  Dietary factors have an impact on the course of chronic hepatitis B. Balanced nutrition refers to the intake of the six major nutrients: sugar, protein, fat, water, vitamins, and trace elements in optimal proportions. Absolute balanced nutrition does not exist in reality. Eating more protein, more vitamins or trace elements is not the best nutrition, but a sign of partial or unbalanced nutrition. Balanced nutrition is the basic condition to stabilize and maintain the normal immune status of human body. Without balanced nutrition, no matter what immunomodulatory or immunostimulant drugs are administered, they cannot improve human immunity. Balanced nutrition requires food diversification, and it is not advisable to forbid “cold” or “hot” food, and it is not advisable to emphasize food “conditioning” or “tonic”. “Balanced nutrition requires “follow your senses”, any individual is an open automatic control system, unconscious foraging behavior is a manifestation of individual nutritional needs.  Mental and physical load has an impact on the course of chronic hepatitis B. The patient’s work and life stress, continuous overload of mental and physical energy or being in a constant state of emergency can lead to a decrease in the body’s immunity and an increase in the level of viral replication, inducing hepatitis activity. It should be emphasized that a normal mental and physical load appropriate to one’s mental, mental and physical characteristics has no significant influence on the course of chronic hepatitis B; in other words, patients with chronic hepatitis B should take care to avoid overexertion and overstress, which is not the same as paying attention to rest and relaxation.  Pharmacological treatment of chronic hepatitis B includes antiviral, immunostabilization, immunomodulation and reduction of inflammation, corresponding to drug classes known as direct antivirals, thymic peptide agents, cytokines and hepatoprotective drugs, respectively. The current mainstream of antiviral therapy is direct antivirals, but it does not mean that other drugs are ineffective or ineffective. Appropriate choices need to be made for a specific patient based on his or her disease status (disease characteristics) or stage of disease progression. Disease state or condition assessment is a complex analytical process covering physicians’ experience and relevant clinical research results, requiring a multifaceted and multidimensional analysis and careful judgment. Therefore, the type of drug therapy to be used for a specific patient must be under the guidance of a physician.