Oral Vitamin D Treatment for the Prevention of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Summary

Participation Requirements

Description

Potential participants will be identified from the follow-up cohort of chronic hepatitis B in the third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University (3rd SYSU). The hepatologists at the 3rd SYSU's Infectious Disease Institute will ask each potential participant if she/he is interested in participat...

Potential participants will be identified from the follow-up cohort of chronic hepatitis B in the third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University (3rd SYSU). The hepatologists at the 3rd SYSU's Infectious Disease Institute will ask each potential participant if she/he is interested in participating. If the patient expresses an interest in the study, one of the researchers will meet with the patient when he/she is at the 3rd SYSU for a regular appointment and will describe the study to the potential participant. If a patient continues to be interested in participating, she/he will be given a copy of the review board approved consent document to read. The consent document will be used as a guide for explaining the study in detail to the patient. The participant allocated to the experimental group will be contacted by one of the investigators on the research team and instructed to begin taking 2 tablets per day (800 IU total) of vitamin D3 besides their regular anti-virus treatment. Those patients allocated in the control group will be informed that they are not to take any vitamin D3 and they will be followed as controls for this study. The researcher will investigate general treatment benefits and the potential to reduce the development of Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), also known as liver cancer. Improvement of treatment benefits will be determined by interviews with patients, the level of HBsAg and HBeAg, the development of liver fibrosis and evidence of HCC on routine imaging.

Tracking Information