Living donor liver transplantation for end-stage hepatitis C.
Living donor liver transplantation is important for patients with end-stage viral hepatitis because of the shortage of organs from deceased donors. However, preliminary results indicate that living liver donation might be disadvantageous for hepatitis C virus-positive patients. Twenty-seven patients who underwent living donor liver transplantation for hepatitis C virus cirrhosis preemptively received antiviral therapy using interferon-alpha2b and ribavirin, which was started an average of 32 days after the operation and continued for at least 6 months thereafter. The serum hepatitis C virus RNA became negative in the 8 of 16 patients with more than 1 year follow-up. The cumulative 3-year patient survival was 85%, which was comparable to that of hepatitis C virus negative patients (n = 93; 90%). Preemptive antiviral therapy after transplantation may be necessary for satisfactory results after living donor liver transplantation.
Sugawara
Y
Y
Artificial Organ and Transplantation Division, Department of Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. yasusuga-tky@umin.ac.jp
Kaneko
J
J
Akamatsu
N
N
Kishi
Y
Y
Hata
S
S
Kokudo
N
N
Makuuchi
M
M
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000401:mortality / Q000502:physiology*; D019520:Living Donors; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome