Treatment of hepatitis B. Treatment of acute icteric hepatitis B is similar to the principles of treatment of acute hepatitis syndrome. Special care must be given to the possibility of fulminant outcome and to the trend to chronicity. Diagnosis and treatment of chronic hepatitis B serves prevention of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma as well as elimination of the sources of further infections. Interferon-alpha treatment results in sustained clinical and virological response in about half of the patients. Nucleoside analogues as lamivudine, entecavir, adenovir dipivoxil are the alternatives. They are effective also in endstage liver cirrhosis caused by hepatitis B virus and able to prevent reinfection and graft loss after liver transplantation. Evaluation of the benefits and disadvantages of the antiviral agents help to determine the individual, patient-tailored treatment.