Chiang HH, et al. - In cirrhotic patients receiving entecavir (ETV) therapy, researchers studied the long-term incidences and predictors of developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), cirrhotic events and mortality. Four hundred eighty-one nucleos(t)ide patients with analogue-naïve chronic hepatitis B (CHB) who had compensated for cirrhosis upon entry and received ETV monotherapy for >12 months were enrolled. The cumulative eight-year incidence of HCC development, cirrhotic events and liver-related mortality was 26.5%, 8.62% and 10.03% respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that the 12-month treatment level of diabetic mellitus (DM), higher fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) and alpha-foetoprotein (AFP) and the increase of FIB-4 from baseline to 12 months were independent factors of the HCC. In 12 months of treatment, FIB-4 and AFP levels were also independent factors of cirrhotic events and mortality. They observed that the combination of FIB-4 and AFP levels during 12 months of treatment is a valuable marker for anticipating the development of HCC, cirrhotic events and mortality in compensated cirrhotic patients receiving ETV therapy with CHB.