Screening for hepatitis B in patients with lymphoma.

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection can be reactivated during lymphoma chemotherapy, specifically with rituximab. In 2008, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and, in 2010, the American Society of Clinical Oncology made recommendations that anyone who received cytotoxic or immunosuppressive therapy should be tested for serologic markers of HBV infection. In our study, we wanted to determine the screening rates for HBV infection at our institution and if simply adding a checkbox onto the rituximab order would improve HBV screening.