Blood eosinophilia after living donor liver transplantation for hepatitis C virus-related cirrhosis.
BACKGROUND
Differentiating between acute cellular rejection (ACR) and recurrent hepatitis C virus after liver transplantation in hepatitis C virus-positive patients is difficult, but vital for preventing graft loss.


METHODS
The blood eosinophil counts 3 days before or on the day of biopsy were retrospectively reviewed to evaluate their value for predicting ACR in 91 biopsy samples from 45 patients.


RESULTS
Eosinophil counts on the day of biopsy were significantly higher in the ACR group (n = 20) than in the non-ACR (n = 71) group, although the difference was negligible 3 days before the biopsy. A relative eosinophil count of 2% or an absolute eosinophil count of 200 cells/mm(3) predicted ACR with a specificity of 94% or 96%, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Blood eosinophil count on the day of biopsy can be helpful in the diagnosis of ACR in patients who underwent living donor liver transplantation for hepatitis C virus-related cirrhosis.
Kishi
Y
Y
Department of Surgery, Artificial Organ and Transplant Division, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
Sugawara
Y
Y
Kaneko
J
J
Tamura
S
S
Matsui
Y
Y
Makuuchi
M
M
D001706:Biopsy; D004802:Eosinophilia / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery* / Q000821:virology*; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D019520:Living Donors; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity