Delayed HBsAg clearance in chronic hepatitis B viral infection
Karen L. Lindsay, Allan G. Redeker, Mary Ashcavai – 1 November 1981 – Seven patients are described in whom HBsAg persisted for 13 to 98 months after acute viral hepatitis B and then became nondetectable. All patients subsequently developed anti‐HBs. During the period of HBs‐antigenemia, liver biopsies in five patients showed persistent viral hepatitis. Retrospectively, impending negativity of HBsAg was predictable in five patients by a decrease in HBsAg titer, and in four patients by persistent normalization of serum alanine aminotransferase.