[Fatal liver failure after hepatitis B reactivation following chemotherapy for lymphoma in a patient with only anti-HBc antibody and review of the literature].

Hepatitis B reactivation after chemotherapy is well known when Ag HBs is positive. Recommendation is to give preventive antiviral treatment before starting chemotherapy. The reactivation when there is only an anti-HBc antibody is rare. We report the case of a woman who developed an hepatitis B reactivation two weeks after the end of a chemotherapy for a high grade non Hodgkin lymphoma. Before chemotherapy, hepatitis B virus serology was positive only for anti-HBc antibody and viral load was negative. She had a fulminant hepatitis with fatal issue although a treatment by lamivudine and adefovir was rapidly started. In the literature, only 13 cases of patients with positive anti body anti-HBc alone who developed an hepatitis B reactivation after chemotherapy have been reported.