Hepatitis Delta in Focus: A Foundational Overview of HDV

In this module, Nancy Reau, MD, discusses the burden of hepatitis delta virus (HDV) disease, its impact on liver disease progression, populations at risk, strategies on screening and diagnosing HDV and treatment options including evolving data on future options.

Key points discussed in this module are illustrated with thumbnails from the accompanying downloadable PowerPoint slideset, which can be downloaded here or by clicking any of the slide thumbnails in the module alongside the expert commentary.

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Patient Case: Introduction

Let us open with a case to help put things in context.

This is a 41-year-old Mongolian woman who has no known significant past medical history. She is not taking any medications. She is referred to the hepatitis clinic because of an increase in liver enzymes, but her hepatic function is still very good.

On physical examination, she looks like a healthy individual. A right upper quadrant ultrasound is obtained that shows course echotexture and the suggestion of nodularity but no masses.

Additional blood tests are ordered, checking for viral hepatitis and markers for possible autoimmune disease such as an antinuclear antibody and a smooth muscle antibody.

Her immune markers return negative, but she has evidence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) exposure with a positive HBsAg.