In outpatient clinics, we often encounter patients with chronic hepatitis B who ask how much longer they have to take the medication and when they can stop. Indeed, more and more patients with chronic hepatitis B have been treated with nucleoside (acid) analogs, and many of them have good results, so they naturally hope for better results. So, can nucleoside analogs be stopped for slow hepatitis B treatment? There have been many studies in recent years that hope to answer this question, and the results so far have been “difficult”. First, it was found that nucleoside (acid) analogs require at least e antigen seroconversion in order to stop, because patients with e antigen seroconversion have a more stable efficacy after discontinuation than patients with pure virological conversion, who have almost 100% relapse after discontinuation, while the latter have some chance of durable response. Unfortunately, however, the rate of e antigen conversion after long-term treatment (2-8 years) with all types of nucleoside analogs was only 22-31%, meaning that only one-fifth to one-third of nucleoside analogs treated were likely to be considered for discontinuation. Second, the study also found that even in patients who achieved e antigen conversion, most relapsed after stopping nucleoside analogue therapy. In fact, if surface antigen clearance is obtained, the efficacy is more stable after discontinuation, although the low rate of surface antigen clearance with nucleoside (acid) analogs makes it more difficult to use as a realistic discontinuation criterion. However, studies suggest that the longer the duration of nucleoside (acid) analogue consolidation therapy before discontinuation, the lower the risk of relapse after discontinuation. Based on these findings, national and international guidelines provide clear recommendations for discontinuation of nucleoside analogs: discontinuation of nucleoside analogs can be considered after e antigen conversion has been obtained and after consolidation therapy. The duration of consolidation therapy should be at least 1 year. With the accumulation of data from relevant studies, the recommendations for the duration of consolidation therapy are now increasing across guidelines. The 2015 Asia-Pacific Hepatology Society guidelines for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B recommend at least 1 year, preferably 3 years, after e antigen conversion before considering discontinuation; the 2015 Chinese guidelines for the prevention and treatment of chronic hepatitis B are more stringent: the total course of nucleoside (acid) therapy is recommended to be at least 4 years, and after achieving HBV DNA below the lower limit of detection, ALT normalization, and e antigen conversion, then consolidation therapy for at least 3 years (with rechecking every 6 months ) remains unchanged, the drug can be considered discontinued, while the guidelines also emphasize that further extension of the course of treatment may reduce relapse. Obviously, it is more difficult to stop nucleoside (acid) analogs alone, and it is important to be cautious, wait and see more before discontinuing them. However, recent studies suggest that switching to or adding long-acting interferon can shorten the course of therapy and safely stop the drug in patients who have turned virologically negative after treatment with nucleoside (acid) analogs, with clearance of e antigen and relatively low levels of surface antigen. It may be considered for patients who expect to discontinue the drug as soon as possible.