A patient with hepatitis C-related cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma who was cured with an orthotopic liver transplantation and interferon therapy.
A patient with hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was treated successfully with an orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) followed by interferon therapy. The 36-year-old Japanese man was diagnosed as having liver cirrhosis in 1983. HCC was detected in 1991, and by 1994, jaundice and ascites had developed. The patient underwent OLT in June 1995, after which hepatitis C recurred, with elevated aminotransferases. His liver biopsy specimen showed chronic active hepatitis. He was given interferon-alpha three times weekly for 24 weeks in 1999. Six months after the end of the interferon treatment, the patient's serum HCV RNA became negative, with normalization of aminotransferases, and his liver histology exhibited amelioration of fibrosis and inflammation. At the present time, he remains free of HCC (more than 6.5 years after the OLT) and free of HCV RNA (more than 2.5 years since interferon therapy was completed). This is the first Japanese patient whose HCC was cured by OLT and HCV was eradicated by interferon therapy.
Shibata
Minoru
M
Department of Gastroenterology, Kanto Medical Center NTT EC, Tokyo, Japan.
Yanaga
Katsuhiko
K
Morizane
Toshio
T
Yanagawa
Tatsuro
T
Hirakawa
Masami
M
Ueno
Yukihisa
Y
Esquivel
Carlos O
CO
Mitamura
Keiji
K
D000328:Adult; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002102:Cadaver; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy; D006801:Humans; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery*; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery*; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D008297:Male; D013997:Time Factors
D000998:Antiviral Agents; D016898:Interferon-alpha